Ultraviolet
by ebitto
Summary: "It's not like I'm going to tell anyone. You can trust me. Also, for the record, if you want to pass as a boy," he slipped a finger under her bra strap that had slid into view beneath her white button-down shirt and gently lifted it, causing it to make a soft popping sound. "You should really wear a strapless bra." AU. RobxRaexRoy. Revamped.
1. Prologue: Her Beginning

**A/N:** It has been a very, very long time. I've missed you all, and have decided that I want to save this story. You'll find that many things have changed, but the basic plot will stay the same: Raven disguises herself as a boy to get into a prestigious training school for young, male superheroes, falls in love, causes utter chaos, and unlocks deep secrets about her past, her mother, and a prophecy that might destroy everyone she has come to love.

This story is AU, certain things remain canon but others I have taken creative liberty with. I'm sure you'll be able to notice the difference. Some characters have been switched around. Readers of the previous version will notice what I mean as the story progresses. Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this, as I am working very hard to recreate this universe for you all. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

**-Ehbi**

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**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_ This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

* * *

**_Prologue: _**Her Beginning

_"_The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"

_—Edgar Allan Poe, _The Premature Burial

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_St. Louise Orphanage of Gotham City—October 31__st__, 2008, All Hallow's Eve Night_

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Hushed whispers floated in the dim corridor. Faint screams echoed off of the stone walls, almost inaudible against the roar of thunder outside the stained glass windows of the convent. The nuns huddled around the door to the locked chamber, pushing against each other for a chance to hear what was going on inside. Every so often something would crash against the door and they would all jump, frantically making the sign of the cross.

Footsteps hurriedly coming from the end of the hall caused the sisters to spin around with a start. A cloaked figure was making its way down the corridor to where they stood eavesdropping.

"I need to be let into that room right away," said the stranger. Their scarlet hood was up, but from the voice, it sounded to be a woman. "Someone in there needs my help, and you are sorely unequipped to give it."

One of the novices stepped forward, blocking the outsider's way to the quivering door. "I apologize, but who are you? It is most dangerous to be near here at the moment. And how dare you insinuate that our priest is not equipped for this job?"

The mysterious visitor let her hood fall back, and the sisters let out an audible gasp as they recognized her. Phaesya, a world renowned psychic and powerful mystic—of course she had heard what had been going on at the convent. The convent sisters preferred not to believe in clairvoyance, and despised the Justice League's so-called psychics. Phaesya knew that she was not welcomed there, or any convent, really, so for her to have come despite that…the situation must be worse than they had expected.

A rather loud thump sounded against the door and Phaesya raised her eyebrows. One would call the look smug if everyone wasn't already high strung—and rightly so. One of their orphan charges had been the source of most disturbing occurrences as of late, and that evening the Mother Superior had agreed to call in a priest for an exorcism. Every cross in the abbey had been inverted to their shock and horror that morning, and odd rust-colored streaks marked the floor in a path leading directly to 13-year-old Rachel Roth's room.

They had questioned all of their wards, to be fair, but every sister knew that the peculiar girl was behind it all. Odd things happened every year on her birthday, and this night was no different. If anything, this night was the most heinous of them all. The sisters had always been certain that there was something seriously wrong with the raven-haired girl since the day she'd arrived on their doorstep eight years ago with only a desperate note and a twenty-dollar bill crushed in her fist. When asked her name, the child had recited solemnly, "My name is Rachel Roth. I am five years old, and I live on 367 Howard Place. It's nice to meet you."

It had been obvious that whoever had brought her there had abandoned her to the care of the convent. Originally the Reverend Mother Theresa Agnes had been against taking in another orphan, but one of the elderly sisters had taken to the stoic, unblinking child and was already showing her to a room. The abbess, of course, would not refuse the elderly nun who'd run the convent before her and had allowed for the child to remain, even though the child's unflinching stare unnerved her.

Their suspicions had first been piqued when one of the sisters found some of Rachel's drawings stuffed between her thin mattress while performing her daily rounds. Nearly all of the drawings were totally black, her crayon had rubbed so vigorously that parts of the paper were worn through. All of them featured an almost perfectly rendered horned man, skin as red as fresh blood and stare so evil it made the nun's heart stutter.

They questioned Rachel about the man in her pictures on several occasions—every time she gave the same answer: "That's my dad." And every time, she gave them a look that seemed to question their sanity, as if it were obvious that she was devil spawn and that they were all ninnies. Sister Mary Lucille defended her, naturally, explaining it away as just a young child's imagination.

When the other orphans began to complain that Rachel had been visiting their bedchambers at the most unholy hours of the night, watching them in their sleep and giving them horrid nightmares, Sister Mary Lucille defended her, rebuking the nuns for allowing their voiced suspicions to startle the children and that Rachel had done no such thing. Again, the abbess of St. Louise did nothing, and allowed the elder to care for Rachel.

Things escalated further, and eventually earlier that year the elderly nun took ill and died. Immediately after learning of her dearest friend's death, Rachel went into a coma and did not awaken for three weeks. All of the strange things happening around the convent came to a dead halt only confirming the nuns' hunch that the child was either possessed or truly fathered by some profane, godless being.

When she finally woke up, however, it was worse than before. Finally, after that evening's debacle, the nuns called a frantic conference with the abbess, and there they were, shaken and at the end of their wits.

"Obviously it is not going well in there. Step aside, Sister. It is more dangerous for your headmistress to remain in there alone with what is truly ailing the child. Please, if you do not want another death tonight."

The novice's eyes widened sharply. "_Another_ death? What do you—?" There was a collective gasp as Phaesya's lack of mentioning the priest sunk in, and the nuns quickly parted like a hot knife slicing through butter.

Phaesya opened the door, and was immediately greeted with a blast of foul-smelling air. She stepped into the chamber, her boots making an odd _schlop-_ing noise on the wet stones. She was standing in someone's blood, and from the looks of the collared priest who slumped against the wall to her left, neck bent at an impossible angle, it was his.

A relieved gasp from her right reassured her that the Reverend Mother was at least still alive, and she caught a glimpse of her face before she passed out in a dead faint, her habit stained a dark brown from the priest's blood that was seeping under their feet. She shut the door behind her, preventing the other nuns from entering and seeing the crumpled body of the father and their headmistress's indisposed state.

Finally, she looked to the center of the candlelit room, where the cause of all of the chaos stood immobile—too still to possibly be _alive_. She was but four or four and a half feet, and slight. On first glance no one would believe that such a slight thing could be causing so much terror, but Phaesya knew better. The girl's hair covered her face like a sheet made of black ink, and upon closer inspection she noticed that her bare feet cleared the floor by at least a foot.

Deep shadows, too black to be natural flickered along the walls, pulsating and tentatively reaching their tendrils along the walls towards Phaesya. They licked at her boots, and she could feel a biting cold sear straight through to her bone.

_Those fools._. It seemed as if whatever abilities she had, she obviously had no control over them. When they cornered her, threatening her with an exorcism and no doubt terrifying the poor girl with their accusations, she'd lost it, and gave whatever part of herself that harbored these dark powers full control in self-defense.

"Rachel, I know you can hear me. Everything is going to be okay, but I need you to calm down," Phaesya said softly. She approached her, raising her hands and offering her empty palms in the classic I-mean-no-harm gesture. The girl gave no response as she drew near, and continued to hover, unnervingly still.

Phaesya felt something metallic clatter against her boot; a small, crucifix on a broken chain lay abandoned at her feet. She could feel energy radiating from it, and picked it up to get a reading. Fond memories of an older woman flitted across her eyelids at the speed of light, and she concluded that someone very close to the girl had embedded their spirit into the stone. Fittingly so, as well, seeing as lapis lazuli was an excellent spiritual conductor and psychic amplifier.

"Did they take this from you, Rachel?" She asked on a hunch, and her guess was confirmed by the agitation of the almost tangible shadows surrounding the girl's frozen form. "They had no right to take it. You feel better when you wear it right?"

Almost imperceptibly, Rachel's head dipped in an apparent nod. Phaesya dared closer, mistaking the girl's response as a sign that she was calming down. Suddenly, her head whipped up in a movement too fast to consider human, and she grabbed Phaesya by the collar, forcing her to look into her face. Four crimson eyes bored holes into the depths of her being, at odds with the fanged, twisted grin that marred the child's angelic face.

Rachel's inhuman gaze shook Phaesya to her very soul, and she could feel her resolve beginning to falter.

"R-rachel, please, I am here to help you…" she stuttered, hating the weakness in her voice and how her courage seemed to flea in the presence of a child twenty years her junior.

"_You cannot help me._" She said it sweetly, but the voice that responded to her was not that of a thirteen-year-old girl, but of something far more depraved, and far older than the earth itself. The acrid, too-sweet smell of death and rotting flesh invaded Phaesya's nostrils and she shuddered in Rachel's iron grip.

"_I shall be the end of all things mortal._" She moved her mouth to the psychic's ear, and her whisper sent chills racing down her spine. "_Women and children will be slaughtered like pigs in their beds, and the entire earth will burn with everlasting fire. None will be able to restrain me, and the puny human race will be reduced to ants beneath my feet._"

Phaesya struggled against her grip, bringing the lazuli cross into contact with the skin on Rachel's forehead, and chanted a spell of expulsion, the most powerful one she knew. There was a chance that it wouldn't work, as whatever was in this girl was drawing from part of her very soul, a part of her that was symbiotic with her being.

Whatever was possessing Rachel chuckled at her efforts, white fangs flashing with the sporadic lightning. But the spell seemed to be taking hold, and the girl began to shiver. The demon possessing Rachel gave Phaesya one last shake, and as it left her body it whispered a deadly promise psychic's ear: "_I vow that in five years time, I will be back to claim what's rightfully mine." _

Phaesya sank to the floor just as Rachel slumped to the ground before her and she watched as the crucifix dissolve into the space in her forehead leaving a single, blue, diamond-shaped stone to adorn her _Ajna_ chakra.

The eavesdropping nuns stumbled back when a mentally and physically exhausted Phaesya threw open the door, clutching a limp, but no longer possessed Rachel in her arms. She swept past the sisters, eager to leave the forsaken convent orphanage and get back home to Jump City.

"Your priest is dead. You may want to call an ambulance," she called, almost as an afterthought, over her shoulder to the nuns who hadn't moved an inch and had been staring after her openmouthed. They didn't make any move to stop her from taking Rachel, stunned by the weight of her words and everything that had just transpired.

She would take the girl to Bijoux Academy, where the Justice League had already dispatched a team of healers to receive her. She had five years to figure out the poor kid's parentage, and hopefully circumvent an apocalypse at the same time.

But first, she'd have to be trained.


	2. Ruby: Her Anger

**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

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**Chapter 1:** Ruby / _Her Anger_

"It was night and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood."

_—Edgar Allan Poe, _Silence_—_a Fable

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_Four Years Later, Bijoux Academy, end of fourth year_

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Raven was _seething_. She couldn't remember a single time in her life when she had been more enraged. The emerald green gilded wallpaper lining the fourth-year dorm's corridor bubbled and peeled as she stormed by, the lights flickering in their bulbs only to shatter as she passed directly under them.

Phaesya, the school's Justice League-appointed overseer, psychic trainer—and probably the only person in the _entire godforsaken school_ that she could stomach having a conversation with—had gone into hiding for some bizarre reason a year ago, and no one thought she was mature enough to know where. Phaesya had been with Raven every step of the way since she woke up in the infirmary with no memory of who she was and where she came from. They had come up with the name "Raven" together, and she had helped her control her abilities. She and Raven had been in the middle of a breakthrough researching her origins when one day, her mentor had just up and disappeared without warning. The last thing she'd said to her sounded ominous, it was a warning or something for her 18th birthday next year, but she'd never got the chance to ask her about it.

Her counselor's disappearance wasn't what angered her the most, though—she'd learned to get over, or at least repress, her feelings of abandonment. What pissed her off was that ever since Phaesya left, the school started slacking. It seemed that since Phaesya wasn't there to monitor the school's policies and standards and reporting their every move to the JLA, they decided that it was okay to let their institution to become nothing more than a glorified private school. The Justice League hadn't done an inspection since Phaesya left, as they were dealing with some very pressing intergalactic matters, and had been in negotiations even before the psychic left.

Their new headmistress had even begun to accept _bribes—_she called them _donations_, of course—from high-class women from as far as Gotham City to enroll their daughters, superhuman or not, in the once famed Bijoux Academy for Gifted Young Women. They only wanted to brag to their socialite friends that their daughters were receiving education in the most prestigious training school founded by the Justice League themselves.

So now their school was filled with tittering airheads who had no passion for learning to fight and harness their abilities, and fainted at the mere sight of blood. The head of the physical training department quit when the administration announced that due to large request of the school's generous benefactors, it would be best if the students were not taught such vigorous and dangerous exercises, and that it was bad for their 'delicate constitutions'.

In other words, worried wealthy mothers feared that their precious heiresses would break a nail while learning to fight the things that went bump in the night.

Many of the older students who were not 'noble-born' had already dropped out; the school's half-hearted classes were proving more and more obsolete. Some returned to their towns to play the role of the 'masked vigilante' and some had deviated further, joining delinquent gangs and preferring to live a life of crime. Raven had not been one of the deserters, as the school had been her home for the past four years, and she was loathe to leave the one place that had given her stability without all of the dirty looks. Here, everyone was a freak, or at least, everyone _had _been until the upperclass invaded their safe haven.

Their most recent arrival had been the Princess of the planet Tamaran, Koriand'r. She preferred to go by Kori or Starfire, and as far as Raven could tell, although she was superhuman, she was just as much a snob as the rest of the wealthy classmates. Herself, of course, being a scholarship student, had the pleasure of having to share a room with the royal. She had, up until now, suffered through the princess's endless barrage of idiotic questions and insistence that Raven move her bed to the walk-in closet because 'commoners are not allowed to share a room with royalty'.

Tonight, the alien had followed through with her threat to remove Raven from the main room, and she had returned from an evening class to see that all of her things, what few she had, had been unceremoniously dumped into her walk-in closet. Innocently, Starfire reclined comfortably on her abnormally large purple bed which she had moved to the center of the room. She apparently was talking to her boyfriend, Dick, whom she called every night and made obnoxious kissing noises to well into the morning hours. Her weird-ass pet _thing _"Silkie"_—_pets weren't even _allowed_ in the dorms—had been all over the room, leaving a thick coating of disgusting slime on all of the surfaces.

So, in a moment of temporary insanity, Raven calmly went up to the headmistress's office to complain. Why she thought the headmistress would entertain her request was beyond her, but she had to do _something_, or else a certain princess would meet a very, _very_ tragic end.

The headmistress's response to Raven's plea to be given a new room, or at least to be transferred to someone _else's_ earned her a stern reprimand and a warning that if she were less than polite to their royal Tamaranian guest, she would be disgracefully booted from the school in the blink of an eye.

It was with some satisfaction that she lost control briefly as she exited the office, as she heard the Headmistress's computer abruptly explode, surely losing whatever nonsense she had been working on.

Instead of returning to her room, Raven left the campus, hoping to find some streetrat doing something idiotic and at least borderline criminal so she could justify snuffing their lights out. She knew that if she went back to her room, she would not be polite, and the entire school would probably hear the teens exchanging death blows. Tempting as it was, Raven did not want to be the cause of Tamaran declaring war with her city.

The streets were nearly empty, though, with curfew about to set in and all. Jump City's mayor had called for one after the recent attacks from a group of criminals calling themselves the Slayers. Being a student from Bijoux granted her immunity from the curfew, since its students were _supposed _to be experts at defending themselves and the general public. This was at least somewhat true for Raven, though she expected her fighting skills were extremely rusty after such a long time not being able to train.

As she strolled the main road in the waning twilight, watching shopkeepers close their shops and mothers ushering their children off of the streets or hurrying to catch the last bus, she thought about not returning to Bijoux.

Although it had been her home for much of her teenage years, she wouldn't be leaving much of anything, or any_one_, behind. No one would miss her, either. Many of the professors were gone, some defecting to Bijoux's brother school, The Paladin Institute. According to the news, superhero education at the Paladin Institute had recently surpassed Bijoux's. It was rumored to have intensive training classes, and as many specialized professors as there were super powers. It was funded by the billionaire Bruce Wayne and many of the Justice League heroes taught there when not in service. It had an extremely selective admission process—a policy that Bijoux would no doubt benefit from—and was extremely serious about efficiently training their students.

An idea began to form in the back of Raven's mind. It was one that had crossed her mind before, but she'd always dismissed it as being far too ridiculous and risky. Maybe she was still a little…_unsettled_…from her previous emotional state, but the crazy idea was sounding more and more plausible, and she knew just the person who could help her pull it off.

With a renewed purpose in her step, she left the main road for one of her favored shortcuts that led to Byter's place. She moved quickly, not flying as to not cause too much attention to herself. Byter had to remain hidden from the outside world, for there were plenty of people who could either use her abilities for their personal gain, or kill her for causing their downfall. Suffice it to say, she had a lot of enemies.

The entrance to the old park was deserted, thankfully, as she glanced around to make sure no one saw her phase through the locked gate. She had to be very careful, as it was easy to miss the rip in the air that led to Byter's hideaway in the fading light. Raven had helped her create it herself and it was _still _hard to find, even in broad daylight. Which was kind of how they intended it to be, but that did not make it any less annoying.

With a bit of very complex magic and technology, the two had created a sort of suspended reality that could house Byter and her 'super-computer lair'—as Raven had affectionately named Byter's array of gadgets and interfaces, some FBI standard and some _alien_—safely. It only responded to their distinct energies; Byter was pretty much non-existent to the real world. It acted as a sort of vacuum in which Byter could access the intergalactic mainframe, but they could not access her in return.

Finally she found the rip, a thin ribbon of _not-air_ glimmering between two large oaks. She glanced around once more, and once she was certain no one had followed her, she slipped inside.

"Wow, sugar queen, it's been a while." Byter turned from whatever it was she was building now to flash Raven one of her thousand-watt grins. Anyone looking at Byter for the first time would assume she wasn't even ten, with her messy blonde pigtails and oversized jumper. Raven didn't know Byter's true age, but she wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be older than her. Noticing the strained look on the darker haired girl, her grin dimmed a bit. "You don't look so hot. What's going on?"

Raven sighed, collapsing onto a beanbag chair near Byter's worktable. The inside of the rip was far larger than one would have expected, and could expand or contract depending on Byter's needs. It resembled the interior of a witch's workshop, but instead of bubbling cauldrons and satchels of herbs or vials of poison, almost every surface was covered with blinking screens and keyboards. It had wooden floors and large, one-way bay windows that lined the walls and led to anywhere Byter wanted to observe at the moment. The roof was a large pane of glass, sometimes depicting a brilliant sunny day, and sometimes depending on Byter's mood, fat drops of rain would threaten to shatter it. Currently they were apparently in the middle of a busy street in Gotham, and a clear night sky twinkled darkly above them. Raven still didn't understand how they had accomplished this miracle of a place, and accredited it to some odd stroke of luck and their combined magic.

For even though Byter would deny it vehemently, the petite girl possessed some kind of powerful magic, she knew. Raven was sure that they would not have been able to build this haven out of thin air with her own magic that was untrustworthy at best.

Raven watched Byter's fingers moving deftly as they assembled whatever new piece of equipment she was designing and sighed. "I was thinking…"

"_That_ never goes well…" Byter muttered, making Raven roll her eyes.

"I was _thinking_ that maybe it's time I…transferred schools." She paused, watching Byter's reaction, but her hidden meaning didn't seem to have sunk in. Byter stared at her blankly, a question plainly written on her face.

"Uh…obviously you came here needing my help, but I can't imagine why you need help to transfer schools…" she replied, confusion schooling her normally cheerful features into a frown. "Unless. UNLESS. Raven. No." Raven could sense the exact moment Byter caught the gist of what she was saying and she rushed to explain herself.

"It would only be for a couple years, and that's it! It's almost time for fifth year to begin, and after I graduate they'll never see me again! Come on, Byte, you know how horrid Bijoux has been recently. Please, I need you, you're the only one that can help."

Despite the obvious flattery, the look on Byter's face was less than encouraging, and Raven pulled at her hair in desperation. The blonde shook her head at Raven's pleading face, closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see the doe eyes the taller girl was making at her. It took a lot for Raven to ask a favor, and that said something, but Byter simply couldn't agree knowing the danger it would put her in.

"Raven, if you get found out, you would immediately be labeled an enemy spy! They would torture and interrogate you for information, and demand to know who you are working for! The Justice League could even get involved!" Even as she said this, though, Byter could tell from the stubborn look on her friend's face that these were risks she was more than willing to take. "What could you possibly gain from going to that school?"

"Better training obviously. And…I was hoping…that maybe they'd know who I am…where I come from…" Raven trailed off and dipped her head, letting her ebony locks shield her reddened face. "Their library is far more advanced than ours…they probably have books written all about me and what I am."

Byter softened, knowing that Raven had been searching for answers about her heritage nonstop since the two had been grade-mates back in first year. She felt guilty about not wanting to help, as Raven had helped her so many times in the past. Saved her life even. Reluctantly, she dropped her electronic wrench and extended a hand to her friend.

"Fine. But first, we're going to have to cut that pretty hair of yours."


	3. Topaz: Her Determination

**Full Summary:**

_Raven Roth, fed up with the current state of affairs in the all-girl's heroine training school, Bijoux Academy, decides to infiltrate their brother school, The Paladin Institute. All she wanted were answers to her mysterious past and better physical training, but instead, she is met with utter chaos and choices she'd never dreamed she'd be faced with. She finds she must share a room with the intense adoptive son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, Richard 'Robin' Grayson. Naturally he dislikes her on the spot, although his tight group of closest friends welcome her with open arms. One of them especially-the drop dead gorgeous bad boy Roy Harper, who is quick to secure a place in her heart. Tension rises and sexualities are questioned; will she be found out? Raven finds herself torn between exposing herself as she becomes increasingly attracted to the anal Robin-who does not understand why she unsettles him so-and the bad-boy Roy. Little do any of them know, the end of the world as they know it is approaching with Raven's eighteenth birthday. Will they be able to solve the mystery before it's too late?_

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**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

* * *

**_Chapter 2:_ **Topaz / _Her Determination_

_"_They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."

_—Edgar Allan Poe_

* * *

_Three weeks later, Paladin Institute Transport Authority_

* * *

To say that Raven was nervous was an understatement. She stood, fidgeting, on the bus depot where the shuttlecraft was scheduled to pick up returning fifth-year Azures—the school's term for their juniors (apparently the grades were color-coded, much like the jewel grade system at Bijoux)—for the new semester. She'd arrived at dawn, and an hour early against her better judgement, as she knew that the other students would gawk at her. Apparently the school didn't really accept students older than fifteen, and at seventeen, Raven was surely going to be an anomaly. She really didn't need the extra attention as she wasn't even sure her disguise was holding up properly.

Thankfully, the uniform policy was strict at Paladin; everyone had to wear the same loose gray slacks and large blazer the color of whatever their grade level was while on campus. Being an Azure, Raven's blazer was a deep blue the color of the sky, and a sapphire crest on her jacket bore the name "Wren Lee", and the title, _Sorcerer in Training._ She had to commend Byter on her skills, really. Not only did she procure a trust fund to pay Raven's tuition seemingly out of nowhere, the officials inside the institute's transport facility hadn't even blinked at her forged paperwork, and had quickly taken her picture and handed her a brand new ID, along with the uniform she had to change into before boarding the shuttlecraft. It was a little worrying how easy everything was, seeing as potentially, any supervillain could infiltrate the school in the same way. However, not every supervillain had an intergalactic computer genius that could alter school records as easily as breathing in their back pocket, either.

Byter had to have some kind of magic, _seriously_.

Her disguise on the other hand…Raven fingered her newly shorn hair, cut in some sort of choppy, flyaway style Byter insisted was popular among boys her age, and dyed some weird shade of purple that matched her eyes. Vaguely she wondered how Byte could possibly know what was popular among teenage boys seeing as the kid hadn't stepped out of the rip once in over two years.

Still, it had made her look decidedly less feminine, and coupled with the odd fabric Byter had specially engineered to hide her breasts stretched stiffly across her chest, it seemed to do the trick. Byter had given her a lightweight suit to wear under her combat uniform as well, that would minimize her curves and give her a more androgynous look.

Both of the girls agreed that Raven was almost too beautiful to pass for a teenage boy, though, and could only cross their fingers and hope their ruse would fool everyone. Raven had reminded her that people normally only see what they want to see, though, so everything should go fine. A simple cloaking spell would hide her feminine energy from any nosy psychics, but that was all Raven was strong enough to maintain on a daily basis. She was hoping that with the Paladin Institute's famed expert training, she would get better at her magic.

She checked her watch—twenty minutes until pickup. The depot was slowly beginning to populate, students brandishing their new, fifth-year ID cards were starting to trickle into the station. Everyone arrived in their uniforms; apparently they'd had theirs delivered over the winter break. Raven braced herself, forcing a stoic expression as she stared aimlessly in the general direction the bus was supposed to be coming from and hoping no one would bother her.

Naturally, a furry green hand suddenly clamped down on her shoulder, and she gave a quick start, causing the lights in the depot to flicker dangerously. Glaring at whoever interrupted her carefully maintained reverie, she found herself looking into the laughing cat-like eyes of a boy covered in green…fur. It honestly wasn't the oddest thing she'd ever seen, coming from a superheroine school herself, but still. It was some ungodly hour in the morning and anyone would be unnerved if a green furball startled them, or at least, that's what she told herself.

"Dude! Digging the hair!" The boy drawled approvingly, shooting her an infectious fanged grin and gesturing to his own, also green, hair. The only thing on him that _wasn't _green was his blue uniform. "So! I've never seen you before around campus. Are you a new student? I'm Garfield, by the way, and you are…Wrrrenn?" He read, squinting at her crest. She moved away, uncomfortable at his scrutiny. "Sorcerer huh? That's pretty cool. We don't have a whole lotta sorcerers at Paladin."

It was far too early in the morning to deal with someone who talked so fast he didn't seem to breathe. Raven blinked at him, unable to talk back, while he answered his own questions even as he asked them. Oblivious to Raven's stunned silence, he continued to chatter happily. "Are those contacts? Or are your eyes just naturally purple? Is it because you're albino? You are pretty pale, huh? I shouldn't be talking though, I'm _green! _Hey, I bet you've never seen a _skinwalker._ Well, you are having the pleasure of standing right in front of Jump City's finest—"

"Would you stop terrorizing the new kid, Gar? First day in a new school must be tough on him." A sympathetic new voice sounded behind the still animatedly talking Garfield and they both looked up, and up, and up into the kind brown…eye…of a boy at least twice their height. He was dark-skinned and handsome, that is, if you didn't count the one red LED eye and mass of lights and blue cybernetic metal parts that made up his body. He extended a mechanical hand to Raven, and she grasped it, shocked at the gesture. There weren't any cyborgs at Bijoux, and she had to admit that she'd never seen someone like him before. Byter would have a field day with him. "You can ignore the furball. I'm Victor, Victor Stone. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He smiled at her charmingly and she couldn't help but offer a small one in return.

"Wren Lee. Likewise." She replied, surprised that her voice came out calm and steady being the bundle of nerves she was. The tall mechanical boy grinned down at Garfield, ruffling his hair. The pair were obviously good friends, and seemed pretty friendly, if somewhat annoying. Maybe she'd get along here better than she'd thought.

Another arm circled Raven's shoulder unexpectedly, and she squashed the desire to banish whoever snuck up on her next to an alternate dimension. "So, Wren, huh? Interesting name." She glanced at the person holding her captive quickly, not wanting to make eye contact for too long. His energy unsettled her, along with his devilish good looks. He leaned in close, golden eyes dancing with curiosity, obviously noting her discomfort. "I'm Roy. Roy Harper. Welcome to Paladin. So I have to ask…are you the nerdy type? 'Cuz I've been looking for someone to do my homework for me…"

Raven shrugged away from him with a glower cold enough to freeze the fires of hell. Garfield and Victor laughed good-naturedly at their antics. Traitors. Roy continued to stare unnervingly at her, something she couldn't name in his expression. Thankfully though, before he could say anything, they were interrupted by a peal of Garfield's infectious laughter. It was more of a cackle, really, and Raven did not understand why she was fighting a most curious bubble of laughter that was rising in her own throat.

"Uh-oh, here comes Sir Tighty-Whities," Garfield remarked mid-giggle, though not without affection. Another Azure was stiffly making his way towards their little group, and he looked about as peeved as Raven felt. His ice blue eyes were visible even from a few yards away, and they seemed to be trained directly on hers. Victor turned and waved the black-haired teen over, while Raven tried very hard to sink into the floor. She'd recognized 'Sir Tighty-Whities' immediately, and had hoped to avoid him like the plague until senior year. Obviously, all the powers above were conspiring to make this as hard as it could possibly get. Maybe it was some kind of punishment for 'accidentally' kidnapping and leaving Silkie in the kitchens back at Bijoux with the hope they'd turn that infernal creature into stew and serve it to the school's resident alien princess. It probably would taste better than that gourmet mystery soup crap they traditionally served at the end of the semester.

'Sir Tightie-Whities' was none other than the insanely good-looking, talented Richard Grayson, also known to the Justice League as Robin. He'd studied under the tutelage of Batman himself, and since the fact that Bruce Wayne being Batman's alias was an ill-kept secret in superhero society, he was basically the _son_ of the man who created the Paladin Institute. Robin was able to choose his codename before any of the other students—they were only allowed to choose their codename in fifth-year, a ceremony her grade level was surely looking forward to. Robin was always taken out of school to assist Batman and the JLA on missions when they needed his insanely sharp wit and unparalleled detective skills. Everyone was insanely jealous, including some of the girls at Bijoux, those who wanted to eventually get into the League, anyway. He had a guaranteed place in the League Academy after graduation, a two year course at the satellite HQ. Only the best of the best of graduates at both Bijoux and Paladin were granted this opportunity. Those who passed the course were given honorary places in the Justice League of America. Only two girls from Bijoux had made it to the JLA Academy in Raven's entire time there, and only one made it onto the official team. Paladin had at least three exceptionally talented supers who made it into the Academy each year, and Raven was sure Robin counted himself already part of the League.

Also, Robin was Princess Starfire's current boy toy.

His icy glare hadn't wavered when he made it to where his friends stood, Raven hovering cautiously in their center. She fumbled with the toggles on her jacket under his gaze, trying to remember if he'd ever seen her in the background during Starfire's video chats, or anywhere else for that matter. Why else would he be looking at her like she was one of the very criminals he'd trained all his life to destroy? Did he harbor some kind of hatred for purple-haired transfer students?

He stepped dangerously close to her and shoved her in the chest, causing her to stumble backward and hit Roy's impressively strong chest with a thud. She looked angrily up at Robin, about to break character and go postal, when she noticed he'd shoved a piece of paper into her hands. Odd looks of a mix between shock, understanding and pity crossed the other boys' faces as they noticed this as well; apparently this piece of paper had some kind of significance that did not bode well for Raven.

The paper was worn from being crumpled and uncrumpled countless times, and Raven had to look hard to see what it said. When she did, regret at her decision to infiltrate The Paladin Institute roiled in her gut, and she took a deep breath to keep from losing control.

It was a notice of dorm policy changes, and a list of who was assigned to each room for junior and senior year. Her alias, 'Wren Lee' was printed neatly right next to 'Richard Grayson'.

Apparently, she'd be rooming with the Boy Wonder until graduation.

* * *

**A/N:** UH OH.


	4. Citrine: Her Caution

**A/N:** Thank all of you who have taken the time out to review this rewrite! Your opinions really mean a lot to me, and I'm very grateful for any corrections or mistakes that you point out to me.

I'd also like to clarify certain things that may seem unclear, and address a couple questions I'm sure you might have.

**What are the pairings in this story?** I'd like for you to eventually ferret out the answer for yourself here, but I will say that the main love pairings will be centered around Raven, Robin, and Roy/Speedy, with an implied intimate relationship between Robin and Starfire happening behind the scenes. Don't let that worry you too much, haha.

**Why is Starfire bad now? **Starfire is one of the minor antagonists in this version, designed to give more depth to the romance and jealousy and become an obstacle in Raven's goals and relationships with Robin and Roy. Whether or not she will come around in the end is something I will leave up to you to read. I can say that it's not that she's bad, per se, but just a little ignorant of Earth customs at the moment. Let's just say it will be her_ beliefs,_ not an evil personality that leads her to take certain actions. THAT'S ALL I'M GOING TO SAY ABOUT IT.

**Who is Raven going to end up with? **You are really going to have to read this through to the end to find out!

**What's with the chapter names? **As I mentioned briefly in the previous chapter, both superhero schools have levels for each grade.

In **The Paladin Institute for Exceptional Young Men**, students are graded from levels 1-7, with each grade corresponding to certain colors: _Crimson, Titian, Xanthous, Harlequin, Azure, Indium and Ultraviolet. _(Which pretty much translates to Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet)

Similarly at Raven's original school, **Bijoux Academy for Gifted Young Women**, students are graded in the same way, only their grades respond to colored _jewels_ instead: _Ruby, Topaz, Citrine, Emerald, Sapphire, Iolite and Amethyst. _

I chose this method to name the chapters because each color responds to a certain emotion or theme that is dominating its respective chapter.

For example, the first chapter was Ruby, a red gem. Red is thought of as a passionate color, invoking feelings of violence, agression, danger, heat, lust, etc. Orange Topaz is of course, orange, and orange represents determination, attraction, success, etc.

If you do your research, you'll probably have a better idea of what's to come in future chapters. ;)

**Does this mean the story will end at Ultraviolet? **Maybe it will, maybe it won't.

Don't forget to leave any thoughts, misspellings or corrections in a review! Enjoy the super long chapter that I had no idea where to cut! **- Ehbi**

* * *

**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

* * *

**_Chapter 3:_ **Citrine / _Her Caution_

"The true genius shudders at incompleteness - and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be."

_—Edgar Allan Poe_

* * *

It was if the entire universe had frozen in its tracks, right along with the beating of her heart. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but Raven could barely take a breath under Robin's intense glare.

She tried to reassure herself that as long as she stayed out of his way, everything should go well.

She tried not to think about the fact that his _detective skills_ were what earned him a spot in the League Academy.

She tried not to think about the possibility that he had _probably_ done his research on her and that whatever he found was implicating and undoubtedly threatened her safety.

Okay, maybe she was _really_ exaggerating. If she acted suspicious, then _obviously_, he'd have a reason to suspect her. She just had to act as if nothing was wrong, and everything would go smoothly. How would someone who didn't know Robin's entire life story—and wasn't playing a game of life and death with the world's most powerful superhero organization—react if they'd just gotten pushed?

Putting on her most intimidating face, Raven straightened to her full height, taking a step forward and closing the distance between them. She was still a good six inches shorter than him, but it seemed to do the trick. Robin's stare faltered in apparent surprise, and to her satisfaction, he stepped back. It was painfully obvious that he was not used to people standing up to him. "I'm sorry, do I know you? Do we have some sort of problem?" she asked, feigning ignorance even as her heart ran a marathon against her ribcage.

Robin snatched the paper out of her fingers, or at least he, tried to. In her anxiety, she'd been clutching it so tightly her knuckles had turned white as bone, and it ripped right in two. He held the ripped piece of paper in front of her face, and it fluttered in the chilly January breeze.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you don't know who I am?" he asked, with the nerve to sound incredulous. So his adoptive father was the richest man in the country—probably even the world—_and?_ Raven didn't think it justified his being a snob. And she despised snobs. Snobs were the whole reason she left Bijoux in the first place. She only hoped the rest of the 'Paladins' weren't the same. From what she saw of his friends, though, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope.

"I know who you are, _Dick_. Your name is right there on your blazer." Raven replied dryly, making sure to use his nickname, rather than his self-proclaimed codename. "It just seems as if _I don't give a fuck_. If we're to be rooming together for the next two years, I suggest you get whatever animosity you have towards me out of your system." Behind her, Roy snickered, muttering something about being extremely brave or extremely foolish, and she made a mental note to deal with him later. Ignoring Robin's gaping mouth and quite _loud_ feelings of being unjustly accosted, she resisted the urge to snap his mouth shut for him. She gathered her bags and stepped onto the shuttlecraft which had apparently been there for the past five minutes—the driver watching the exchange in amusement. It was probably the most excitement he got out of his boring job ferrying students to and fro, she thought.

Roy quickly boarded after her, taking one of Raven's bags off of her shoulder and offering to carry it for her, much to her dismay. "I'm not an invalid, Roy. I can carry my own luggage." She eyed his lack of luggage, and figured returning students probably had theirs delivered directly to the school. Absentmindedly she wondered if she'd left one glorified private school for a slightly _more_ glorified one.

"Anyone who stands up to Robin is automatically my new best friend." Roy laughed, as Raven angled towards a seat at the back of the state-of-the-art airborne bus. She could feel cerulean eyes boring into her back as she made her way down the aisle, and she shuddered, certain that she'd just signed her death warrant. She slid into the seat by the window, hoping in vain that the ride would fly by.

To her shock, Roy slid into the seat beside her, and leaned in close to whisper into her ear. Silently she thanked whatever gods there were for the high backed seats blocking them from view because she really didn't want_ that_ kind of label on her first day of class. She tried to pull away, but what he whispered to her held her heart in a vice grip. She swore she'd have some kind of heart failure before this year was up.

"So," he'd breathed, his hot breath ghosting across the side of her face,"What is a girl doing in an all boy's school?"

Raven blanched, and she stared at him in horror. She read no ill will in his face or his energy, but…how in the _nine levels of hell_ did he…? "I-I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." Raven muttered gruffly, clutching her backpack closer to her chest, and inching closer to the window. Panic like quicksilver shot through her veins, and beads of cold sweat began to trickle down the back of her neck.

Roy sighed, running a hand through his vermilion hair, the tips glinting gold in the light of the rising sun. "It's not like I'm going to tell anyone. You can trust me. Also, for the record, if you want to pass as a boy," he slipped a finger under her bra strap that had slid into view beneath her white button-down shirt and gently lifted it, causing it to make a soft popping sound. "You should really wear a strapless bra."

Raven's face was surely doing an amazing impression of a ripe tomato, and from the insufferable smirk on Roy's face, he'd noticed.

"I have morals, Wren. Obviously if you had to sneak in here, it must be for some important reason. And you don't seem like the villainous type, either." He said quietly, watching her out of the corner of his eye. "We don't have to talk about it now. Whenever you're ready, okay?"

Raven nodded, still unable to respond, but also unable to continue to deny it when they both obviously knew the truth. The only thing she could do was fervently put her trust in this odd boy who was a stranger to her. Did he know that her life, and very likely her freedom, hung in the balance?

* * *

The ride to the school premises, a floating island veiled in thick mist just off the coast of the Jump City harbor, was quick. The shuttlecraft was apparently the school's main form of transportation on and off campus; sleek silver shuttles shot by the windows on a never ending circuit to and from the mainland, some circling the island itself.

Raven found herself forgetting her recent peril and marveling at the view from the window. The island was practically a large, tropical mountain—the contrasting stark whites and blues of the school buildings were built right _into_ scraggly cliff faces. It beat Bijoux's size by several acres, and Raven counted at least twenty different buildings on this side of the mountain alone. She figured it would take her perhaps a day or so to circle the entire island by foot. More of the flying buses drifted lazily above their heads, ferrying other grade levels to their respective dorms.

The shuttlecraft pulled into a hangar designated just for the fifth-year dormitories. The hangar apparently led straight to the Azure dorm, and was to be their vehicle of choice—for those who couldn't fly, anyway—to get to and from class. As she stepped off of the bus, eager to put as much distance between her and Roy as she could, she found herself feeling a bit disoriented. A strong hand gripping her elbow kept her from falling over, and she looked up into the smiling face of the cyborg, Victor. Roy had apparently disappeared once they'd landed.

"Steady there," he said, not unkindly. "The first ride is always a little weird for newcomers." She half-smiled sheepishly in return, and he reached for her bags, setting them on a nearby conveyor belt. He explained that it scanned the contents for security and delivered the items straight to the rooms.

Raven's heart caught in her throat. Would it find some of her personal…_feminine_…items a threat to security? She eyed her bags as they rolled under the scanner warily, but no alarms went off, and she breathed a quick sigh of relief.

"Do you need help finding your room, Wren?" Garfield appeared near her shoulder, and the hopeful expression on her face melted her heart, and she couldn't help but nod. Victor apologized for not being able to give her a tour himself—he was needed in the shuttlecraft repairs workshop where he worked part time during the semester. He wished her good luck, pointedly looking at Garfield, before turning away with a wave. Garfield's face visibly brightened at his chance to talk to her alone, and he started chattering away, leading her out of the shuttlecraft airport towards the maze of hallways that led up to their rooms.

According to the furry teen, the suite she shared with Robin was actually the penthouse room, and she was, apparently, "so unbelievably friggin' lucky" she had no idea. Being directly sponsored by Bruce Wayne, Robin practically owned the school, so naturally, he got the nicest digs in the school, regardless of what year he was in. Raven thought that screamed of unfairness, and how their own Batman could be so biased filled her with confusion. Was this place geared to fostering responsible, educated superheroes, or just a place to feed the egos of rich playboys? Robin had never had to share a room until now, Garfield told her, and he wondered aloud how it had happened that a transfer student, out of everyone else, got the chance?

They reached the ocean-themed common room in the Azure dorm, after what seemed like years wandering through hallways as Garfield pointed out every last nook and cranny that had a backstory. Playing on the large flat screen that dominated most of the room was a recording of the head of the Paladin Institute himself. Headmaster Marlon Connors, one of Bruce Wayne's trusted acolytes and liaison to the JLA, was in the middle of giving a welcome speech to all returning and new students. Garfield snickered, directing her attention to the headmaster's unzipped fly. "He always does this. As if we all wanna see his underwear on the first day of school. Sadly, no one ever has the heart to tell him about it."

Raven snorted and averted her eyes from the screen, knowing that she'd never be able to take the headmaster seriously again. Seeing that he'd made her laugh, Garfield grinned brightly. "You thought that was funny? None of the other guys_ ever_ think I'm funny! You're a cool dude, Wren, even if your eyes are purple."

Raven rolled her eyes, but decided she liked this Garfield kid, even if he tried too hard to get people to like him. He was just a bit insecure around other guys, she guessed, although she couldn't fathom why. He wasn't bad looking for a furry green guy, and actually had a pretty nice physique, now that she thought about it. He was nowhere near as bulky as Victor, who was built like a tank, but he had the lean, lithe muscles of an athlete. If, maybe, he worked on his _social skills_, she was sure he'd have no problem being well-liked.

A cool breeze made the hair on the back of her neck stand at attention, and Raven had the uneasy feeling of being watched seconds before Robin brushed by them and disappeared up the open stairwell in the corner of the common room. Garfield clapped her on the back as if to wish her strength and excused himself, muttering about the hot new professor he had to go lay his 'moves on'.

Resigned, she accepted the daunting challenge ahead of her, and climbed the steps to the second floor. To her disappointment, there were only more halls, crowded with other Azures, and she had to dodge and weave to catch up with Robin. She hurried after him, making sure to keep a distance of at least three yards between her and the infuriated teenager. If he wanted space, he'd have it; she had no qualms with that, regardless of her actions earlier.

Also, she didn't want him to think she was some kind of psycho stalker fanboy.

At the end of the hall, he abruptly stopped, and if she hadn't been paying attention, she'd have gone careening into his broad back. He looked as if he were about to turn around but didn't, and turned the corner, this time walking at a faster pace.

_What the hell is he playing at? _She wondered irritatedly as she pushed past loitering juniors. A laser beam narrowly missed her face, searing a bit of her hair, and the idiot who'd thrown it called a half-assed apology. She accidentally stepped on someone's tail, and its very orange, and very reptilian owner snarled at her, revealing rows and rows of jagged teeth. A growl and a flash of angry red eyes quickly shut him up though, and he let her pass.

She doubled her efforts to catch up to him as he darted left, into one hall, then quickly turned another corner. By the time he stopped, Raven was almost completely out of breath, almost bent over in an effort to regulate her breathing. She didn't even care if he knew she was following her. Hell, when she got her breath back she was going to kick him a new one.

When she finally straightened, she found that he had turned to face her, and that they were in a deserted hallway lined with windows looking out on the island, and a large staircase leading—hopefully—up to the goddamned penthouse. At least he looked almost as out of breath as she was.

"Why in the hell are you following me?!" he exclaimed, and she almost laughed outright in incredulity. He had the nerve to actually look confused!

"Why…in the world…do you _think_…I'm following you?" She spoke slowly, as if speaking to a toddler. "I had no idea the Boy Wonder had such a faulty memory." At his blank look, she shook her head in wonder. "I'm your roommate? Wren Lee?"

A myriad of expressions crossed Robin's face in a split second, and it dawned on her that he never really expected that she would go through with the order. It was obvious he thought her a mindless sheep like everyone else who doted on him—even after everything that had transpired that morning—and that she'd obediently request to change rooms. It had probably never occurred to him that she'd be so daring—no one ever _was—_and she sensed that he didn't have a clue on how to handle that.

He at least had the decency to look uncomfortable, lessening Raven's dislike for him somewhat. "I'm…" he started, struggling to find the right words. "I'm not as bad as you think I am." At her raised eyebrows, he sighed in defeat, but continued resolutely. "I'm sorry for this morning and just now, but…simply put, I don't trust you, man. The other guys don't really care who they let into our little gang and something…happened before…because of that."

"I never asked for you to trust me, Robin," Raven replied, unsure how to take this confession. It certainly painted a different picture of him in her mind—something a little more vulnerable than his attitude suggested. What it didn't do, though, was explain why he was so opposed to sharing a room with her. She understood that he was a born leader, and that he was being the 'alpha male' and 'protecting his pack' but that didn't magically give him special privileges. "I came here to learn and better myself here, just like you. I'm sorry that I'm invading your personal space, but it's not my choice and I'd prefer it if we didn't spend these our last two years fighting like sissies."

Robin couldn't fight with her logic, and had always felt secretly guilty at how the entire school seemed to treat him. He wouldn't lie and say that their complaisance didn't please him on some level, and that he didn't become accustomed to it over the years. He _was_ being selfish and unjust, and _Wren_ was causing all of those unpleasant feelings to rise up again.

Raven could see and feel the internal dialogue going on inside the inky-haired teen's mind. He was projecting his feelings so strongly she could practically read his thoughts. She relaxed on the inside, relieved that his antagonism towards her was not founded on her shady background, and maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't die of a heart attack anytime soon. While she and Robin wouldn't be the absolute best of friends, she could feel the tentative birth of a truce.

Wordlessly, Robin stepped aside, gesturing to the steps and allowing her access to their shared penthouse suite.

Without warning, Raven felt the familiar stirrings of panic rise in her breast as she remembered something. In all of the chaos, and careful planning with Byter, she never gave a thought to how she would possibly handle rooming with a guy! She was not prepared in the slightest, having lived among females for as long as she could remember. What if he walked around naked or something? What if getting naked and lounging around together in _communal showers_ was some sort of teenage male bonding ritual that she was_ expected to partake in_? Raven half-considered turning right back around and running with her tail tucked between her legs right back to Bijoux where it was safe, and she didn't have to worry about potentially being scarred for life.

She briefly glanced out of the corner of her eye at Robin, trying to get her wild, frantic thoughts under control as the windows behind them trembled in their frames. He seemed nonchalant enough, and held open the door for her politely as they entered the suite.

It was almost enough to make her completely forget about sharing her privacy with him. The penthouse was utterly beautiful, furnished with minimalistic dark mahogany wood, soft whites and deep blacks, far more grand than her old two-person suite in her old school. Raven figured with the size of the penthouse, even if _Starfire_ was her roommate and demanded that she sleep in the walk-in closet, Raven wouldn't have minded a bit.

Robin noticed her impressed expression, and he cleared his throat softly. "I-its like this in all of the suites, really." Yeah, _sure, _it was. Raven had a really hard time believing that the other suites looked like _this. _There was a reason everyone on campus was insanely jealous of his living quarters.

The suite had an impossibly ceiling and the entire far wall was a window, and through it, Raven could see the entire left side of the island school. A small staircase led up to a second story loft with a balcony that overlooked the rest of the penthouse. A couple comfy-looking sofas and open video game cases surrounded a large television in the center of the room, and under the loft was a bedroom area: a king sized bed with mussed down covers was backed against the window, and a large mahogany desk housed a blinking, thirty-inch computer monitor. A cork board filled the entire six-foot wall under the loft and it was covered in newspaper clippings, criminal files, and maps filled with little red circles and dotted with thumbtacks.

A relatively small—compared to the rest of the room anyway—kitchenette with a french door fridge and fully functional stove lined the wall behind the living area, and next to the stairs to the loft was a door that probably led to the_ private bathroom_. That's right, it was a door to the _bathroom_, which meant _no communal showers_!

Raven vaguely heard Robin talking in the background, saying something about the rules and his everyday routine that she'd do best to follow, but she'd tuned him out. She'd made her way up to the loft that was just as lushly furnished as the bedroom below it, only without the cork board and creepily leering faces of criminals. Immediately she fell utterly, irrevocably in love, her hatred of all things _bourgeois _be damned. She levitated her bags from where they sat by the door, and was about to unpack on her new queen-sized bed when Robin grabbed her arm, jerked her around, and demanded her attention.

"Dude, are you even _listening _to anything I'm _saying?_! I was_ saying, I _get the loft!" he exclaimed, tossing her bags over the balcony and letting them crash to the floor below.

Maybe it was the way he grabbed her arm so suddenly, or maybe it was the throbbing pain she felt from his impossibly strong fingers closing around her elbow. Maybe it was the way he threw her bags, or maybe it was the fact that the bedroom under the loft was _obviously_ his and he was just being difficult. Or _maybe, just maybe_ it was because her unstable emotions had been running haywire all day without release. Whatever it was, something in Raven _snapped._

Before the Boy Wonder could even _blink_, she had him pinned against the wall, her small white palm pressed against his lips, effectively silencing him. Her normally clear violet irises slowly darkened to an ominous, radiant crimson as she leaned in to his ear. "_I am not your loyal subject," _she hissed, some wicked part of her delighting in the sour, sharp tang of his fear rising in the air, "I will do as I _please_ because this is _my room too _and I was _up here first. _I am not here to cater to you like a _fucking infant_ so suck up your damn control complex and we will get along. _Just. Fine._"

She enjoyed him squirm angrily for a few more seconds as he tried futilely to free himself from her inhuman grip. The way his blood was pumping hotly in his veins called to some primal emotion buried deep inside her psyche. To her horror, she found she had to physically stop herself from drawing close to where his heart pounded out a rhythm in the tender skin of his neck. She dropped her hands from him like he was on fire and descended the stairs to her bags. She threw them back over the balcony—not caring if one of them hit his surely frozen form. Unsure of where to go next, she calmly waltzed into the bathroom and locked the door as if that had been her intention all along, and not that she was shaken and fleeing from a potentially disastrous situation.

* * *

**A/N: **Is that the beginning of _sexual tension_ I see there? I wonder what is going on in our favorite _Boy Wonder_'s mind right now... ;)

And what will Raven do about that meddling Roy?! Leave your guesses in that review box!


	5. Emerald: Their Discord

**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

* * *

**_Chapter 4: _**Emerald / _Their Discord_

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."

_—Edgar Allan Poe, _Letter to an Admirer

* * *

Robin found that he was having trouble breathing. His hand absently went for his pocket where he used to keep his inhaler, cursing when he remembered that he'd thrown it away in a fit of rebelliousness years ago. He was really…_off_ today, he realized. He hadn't used the pump since he was ten, and hadn't ever needed to until this day.

None of the villains, friends, or sparring partners he'd ever fought had ever, _ever_ managed to get _completely_ under his armor like that. Wren had done what no criminal ever managed to do to Robin in the span of two minutes. That the shorter boy had some other terrifying personality hidden beneath the guise of a reserved, solemn, and somewhat nerdy transfer student was unsettling to Robin, and he couldn't seem to shake the experience from his mind.

Robin liked to believe that he wasn't afraid of anything. This was one of those experiences he'd later explain away to himself in a way that made sense. For example; he had been temporarily caught off guard by his flippancy, is all. The shorter, obviously inhuman, boy had exploited that in his brief moment of weakness.

Still, there was this annoying,_ nagging_ sensation tugging at the back of Robin's mind as he struggled to catch his breath. He couldn't place the feeling, and it bothered him. His detective's curiosity got his brain whirring; he was determined to figure out why Wren was single-handedly throwing him off of his carefully maintained and structured balance.

Wren had been perplexing Robin since he'd first gotten in his face back at the bus depot. Robin hadn't known exactly why at the time, and blamed it on his sense of injustice that he'd have to share his prized 'man lair' of five years with someone else, and a transfer student he _didn't even trust_ at that. While it was all well and good to assume that—being a very plausible explanation and all—what was _really_ perplexing Robin was that Wren was more…_complex_ than the people he normally surrounded himself with.

He wasn't a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy and _that_ was what was upsetting the borderline-obsessive detective in Robin. He was a _detective—_he had trained and _prided_ himself on being able to read people easily and he was almost never wrong. Somehow, though, he had managed to read the purple-haired transfer student completely, absolutely_, _one hundred percent _wrong_.

Robin had judged Wren based on appearance alone, and that had been his _first_ mistake. Wren was small-boned and small…well small _everything_. Small hands, petite, upturned nose, far too dainty pointed chin. His mouth was always somewhat pouty, with lips far too full and far too similar to the color freshly crushed cherries. His skin was far too fair and his eyes were far too luminously violet and sparkled with hidden humor far too often even though he was usually looking at the floor or staring aimlessly. His purple hair was far too soft-looking, and Robin did _not_ unconsciously want to touch it.

Everything about Wren's appearance had screamed shy, strange, weak, and introverted. He'd assumed that Wren was one-sided and single-minded, much like many of the criminals he'd researched and destroyed in the past. He, for all intents and purposes, seemed like someone who lacked courage and strength of will, and Robin had acted accordingly, and that had been his _second_ mistake.

_No, no, no, _Robin thought to himself, dragging a sweaty hand through his shaggy raven hair, _You know that's not it._ He couldn't lie to himself. Denial was the first sign of insanity. And Robin was _not _going insane.

He knew that simply misjudging Wren and being caught off guard wasn't the whole reason his world was spinning wildly off of its axis. What was _really_ bothering him was even more alarming than letting himself be pinned to the wall by a far too pretty boy half a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than him and damn near having asthma attack.

There had been an inexplicable emotion that surfaced in him when Wren had him pinned against the wall. This emotion had been so forceful it had sent his blood racing and had his throbbing heart threatening to break his ribs. Every bone in his body had ached to _dominate _Wren, to overpower him, throw him down, and assert his…manhood? Robin closed his eyes. He did _not_ like where that train of thought was going.

It was a perfectly normal, basic, _primal_ instinct to want to assert his domination over a weaker male when threatened, he told himself as he finally made his way down to the area under the loft and collapsed facedown onto the bed. The other option was far too terrifying to entertain.

* * *

Raven solemnly counted to one thousand as her emotions reluctantly simmered down. Once she reached around five hundred, the lights in the bathroom had stopped flickering. She took deep breaths, in, and out, to ground herself, and stared at the crimson-eyed personification of her depravity that glared back.

_He got what he deserved, Other _Raven told her with a smirk.

Raven didn't often lose control of her more…_carnal_ side…as much as she did today, and She was obviously thrilled at being let out of Her metaphoric cage. The last time _Other_ Raven emerged was early fourth year when one of the professors had been improper with one of the students, and She'd gone postal.

Raven had thought she'd been doing a good job keeping Her under wraps, but she could see that she was mistaken. Something about this school had brought Her boiling just beneath the surface of her skin, and she could feel _Other _Raven waiting for blissful release.

The problem was, She was never satisfied with a simple urges like petty theft—which Raven had never given in to, by the way. Angry words didn't sate _Other _Raven, nor did telling boldfaced lies appease Her in the slightest. It always seemed as if Raven had to either commit borderline homicide or go into meditation for a week before her inner devil burrowed herself back in the deep recesses of her mind.

Now she'd have to be even _more_ careful. It seemed like the slightest slip could potentially release her inner hellion; _Other_ Raven would not rest until She saw blood.

Her four-eyed reflection grinned like they shared some diabolical secret and leaned out of the mirror, Her voice a snakelike hiss. _There's another option, and you know it. _

Raven closed her eyes, blocking out the image of the grinning demon. "That other option is completely impossible in my current situation," she whispered to her wicked mirror image.

_That hot Roy would fuck you in a heartbeat, I bet. Other_ Raven leaned in close, nose to nose with Her Host. _Don't you want me to go back to my little jail cell? I might even sleep for months if you'd just let me have Robin. Hell, I'd sleep for a year if we can manage _that.

_"_Shut _up_. Leave me alone," Raven pleaded, refusing to open her eyes and acknowledge _Other _Raven's suggestions.

_ Don't lie to yourself, Raven, you know you enjoyed that little debacle. Think of the fun we'd have if you'd just drop your damn barriers and go _all_ the way. _

Raven began to chant the expulsion spell Phaesya taught her, but her heart wasn't in it. _Other_ Raven could tell—they were the same person after all—and the demon chuckled darkly.

_Other _Raven liked when Raven lied to others, but as menacing as She was, She couldn't physically lie to her own _Host_. Her words were true; Raven _had _felt some kind of perverse pleasure when she'd pressed herself on Robin, but it wasn't like it was some novel occurrence. She was a human girl, or part human, anyway, and any human girl would be…attracted to a well-built guy with nice…arms.

Now, why she felt attracted while she was about to _eat out his throat_ was a completely different story that she wasn't going to try and figure out right now. With renewed energy she chanted, and her reflection sneered at her one more time before reluctantly returning to normal.

A knock on the door startled her, and she swore blackly before realizing that she'd been in the bathroom for the better part of an hour. "Y-yes?"

"Is…is everything okay in there? I-I thought I…heard voices?" came Robin's uncertain reply.

"Just…talking to myself…" she called back, wanting to kick herself for the idiotic response. When she felt his footsteps wander away, she took one last deep breath and left the bathroom.

Apparently her roommate thought that her being in the bathroom talking to herself signified 'get naked time', for he was relaxing shirtless on his bed reading a magazine. Raven knew she shouldn't be getting all worked up over a bare chest, as she was attending an _all-boy's school_ for goodness' sake and really needed to get used to seeing male bodies. Also, and probably more importantly, showing weakness at something this minor would give _Other _Raven an excuse to taunt her all the more.

Mentally, she told herself this. But, but, _but_. There was just _something_ about the intimacy of sharing a room, or perhaps the cozy heat being pushed up through the thermostat that robbed her of the ability to view his tanned, lean, _sculpted_ muscles objectively and, to her absolute horror, she found herself frozen, struck dumb and immobile.

Robin seemed to feel her doe-in-headlights gaze on him and looked up at her, then down at himself to see if he'd accidentally spilled the bottle of Power-ade that was dangling precariously from his other hand. The second he looked down, Raven took the opportunity to flee into the loft.

Well. _That _was a nightmare. How was she going to get a hold of herself?

Something vibrated on her butt and Raven jumped up from where she rested on the bed, guns blazing, when she realized that it was just the communication device Byter gave her so that they could stay in contact. The communicator looked just like a normal smartphone, and could make calls and play games and all that jazz, but the difference was that it was made of the same magic and technology as Byter's workshop. Meaning, it would function normally as a phone if anyone other than Raven picked it up, but they would not be able to call Byter, nor would they see or hear it if the little blonde tinker was calling and Raven wasn't around to pick up.

"Brooke." Raven said into the phone, using the codename that signified that there was a chance she'd be overheard.

"Hey big sis, how's your first day going?" Byter replied, a snicker apparent in her voice. They both knew that not even a blind person would mistake them for siblings. Byter's bright blonde hair and blue eyes, and Raven's darkly exotic features were a dead giveaway.

"It's going alright. Class starts tomorrow." Raven bit her lip, trying to decide whether or not she should tell her about Roy. In the end, she figured what could it hurt? Regardless of Byter's youthful looks, she was usually the source of a lot of wisdom when Raven found she had problems she couldn't speak to anyone else about. Not that she would ever admit it to the shorter girl. "I lost a pencil," she said calmly, using the code that meant her ruse had been discovered.

"WHAT? HOW? Okay, don't answer that. Did you lose _all_ of your pencils?"

"No, just one. And I don't think, I don't think it was an important pencil." She hoped Byter got the gist of what she was implying—that she didn't think Roy would be much of a threat or at least, that she didn't think he'd be. The Justice League hadn't come breaking down the door and dragging her to an interrogation room yet, so that was good.

Someone chose to knock on the door at that exact moment, and Raven's heart nearly fell out of her mouth. It wasn't the Justice League, of course, but who could blame her for being on edge?

"I came to give Wren the tour," said a familiar voice when Robin let him in, making Raven quickly disconnect the call and scramble over to the balcony. Roy glanced up and they locked eyes, electric gold warring with blazing violet. The air between them damn near started vibrating from the intensity of their gaze as they silently challenged each other to a very serious blinking contest, until even Robin looked up at her in curiosity.

"What is going on with you two?" he asked, and before Roy could say something incriminating, Raven cut him off by loudly hopping down the stairs, two at a time.

"Nothing. I just forgot about the tour, that's all." She quickly grabbed her coat and ushered Roy back out into the hallway, not sparing still-shirtless Robin a second glance.

They walked in a very uncomfortable silence as Roy led her through the dorm. Raven did not ask where they were going, afraid of what his answer could be.

Eventually they were outside and he led her along a railed path beaten into a surprisingly snowy hillside, shaded by evergreens and live oaks that seemed to stretch higher than the mountain itself. Raven felt herself begin to calm down, just a bit. She asked Roy about the snow, and learned that certain parts of the mountain were on different seasonal schedules. The side of the mountain they'd seen on arrival was obviously the summer side. Winter on this side island was not like Winter in the city; it was serene and white and peaceful, while back at Jump, an obnoxious car honk would sound every two seconds while its tires splashed gray and yellow slush everywhere. She was sure that if she stayed out here past sunset, the stars would appear bright and unobscured by the smog and light pollution of the city, and the snow would shine like a white ocean in the moonlight.

They finally stopped walking once they reached an ancient-looking stone platform overlooking a courtyard where bored-looking students milled about and started fights with one another. Raven fancied that if she squinted hard enough to the west, she'd see the cherry blossoms on the border of Spring.

"Okay, nature girl, I'm listening." Roy stepped up beside her, and she blushed, embarrassed that he'd caught her gawking at the scenery.

"Do you not get cold?" she asked, ignoring his implied question and noting his lack of a coat as he leaned on the stone railing. It was very hard to not stare at the rippling tendons in his arms as he moved, and it was annoying since he probably knew she was doing it. _Stop being a ninny, Raven._

"I'm a hot blooded predator," he answered with a smirk, and she rolled her eyes. "Don't try and change the subject, Wren. You being so secretive is really making me wonder about your motives." His voice had turned grave, and although he was still smiling, something in his eyes had turned serious and deadly, and she was reminded again of just how dangerous the ground she treaded actually was.

"It's Raven. My name is Raven." She relented, and he gave her a slow nod of encouragement, gesturing for her to continue. "I came because I need answers and training, and this school is the only place that can give both."

"There is an all-girl school back in Jump," Roy replied, his tone skeptical, "Why didn't you just attend that one?"

"You don't understand, Roy. I _did_." Raven leaned on the rail beside him, their elbows nearly touching. "That school is a joke, and it's being bought out by people who only care about titles and fame. All of our best professors left, some even came here,"—she was fervently hoping none of them would recognize her— "They don't even teach physical training anymore. I've completely forgotten how to hold a bow, much less hit a target."

Roy mulled this over beside her, absently tugging a lock of his titian hair.

"Also…" she lowered her voice, in case anyone was listening, "I can't remember anything from before I turned thirteen. I don't know who I was, who I lived with, who my parents were, or even what I _am_. Something is supposed to happen on my eighteenth birthday, but the person who told me that disappeared and I don't even know where _she_ is!"

The odd look on Roy's face and warm hand on her arm gave her pause and she noticed belatedly that her voice had been increasing in volume with every sentence, and that the stone overhang was slightly trembling. She covered her crumpled face in her hands, pretending she was trying to get warm when she truly just didn't want Roy to see how emotional this was making her. Raven _hated_ being emotional. She'd never showed that part of herself to someone before, and she wasn't about to start now.

Roy was not convinced in the slightest, and he placed a comforting hand on her back. "You are very brave, Raven. I don't know if I could dress up as a girl and…wait a second. Do you guys have like…communal showers?"

Raven couldn't stop the startled laugh that escaped, and she looked down at her hands, alarmed. It was as if her body didn't know how to obey her anymore. She looked at Roy, startled to see a bright grin on his face, as if the mayor himself had just handed him the keys to the city or, knowing Roy, a truckload of high-class prostitutes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You _laughed_. It was like the sun breaking through storm clouds." He sighed theatrically, a hand to his heart, "Oh, _would_ that I could hear that melodious sound again!"

She fixed him with her best withering glare, but he just grinned back, obviously not threatened.

"I may not have any freaky psychic powers to read your mind or anything," Roy shrugged at her offended expression and she turned her head to stare in the opposite direction, pointedly ignoring him. He reached around her, gently tugging her chin to face him so that she could read the honesty in his eyes. "…But from the the moment I saw you stand up to Robin, I just _knew_ that there was something a little amazing about you. I like your gut, Raven, and you can trust me to keep your secret. I promise that I'll help you."

Raven had that dizzying sense of vertigo in her belly that she always felt in dreams where she was falling—endlessly, hopelessly spiraling—towards a ground that was thousands of miles away. Her heart was doing some sort of crazed animalistic pounding at her breast, and for once, she had no biting retort to deflect his attention from her speechlessness. "Thank you," she said stiffly, painfully keeping her face a blank mask as he released her chin and pushed off of the rail, stretching languidly before gesturing for her to follow him.

"Don't thank me," he called over his shoulder as he sauntered back towards the way they came. "I'm only doing it to get in your pants."

* * *

**A/N: **Am I moving too fast? What is something you would like to see?


	6. Sapphire: Her Vision

**A/N:** Sorry about that long gap between updates, I honestly didn't expect for it to take that long. Please don't be too upset, I couldn't bear it. :( I promise not to do it too often. ;) Special thanks to **Xaphrin **who took the time to help me out of a rut and give me advice.

With that said, I will not apologize for the filler-episode-like qualities of this chapter, but I will assure you that it is all relevant and that the next chapter will go back to the delicious sexual tension you all seem to crave.

**Also, I'm currently looking for Betas. Please inbox me immediately if you have the patience of a saint, free time, and a decent command of the English Language. But most importantly the patience of a saint.**

**-Ehbi**

* * *

**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

* * *

**_Chapter 5: _**Sapphire / _Her Vision_

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;"

_—Edgar Allan Poe, _The Raven

* * *

All jokes aside, Roy was helping Raven for more…_selfish_ reasons than he let on.

Sure, he was attracted to her. Raven was obviously strikingly beautiful—even dressed as a man. And sure, the girl had _some kind of spunk _to crossdress and infiltrate one of the most heavily guarded and warded institutions in the country. But Roy had to admit, at least to himself, that he was mainly looking out for his own best interests when he swore to help her.

He just didn't understand. Raven had put herself into an _extremely _precarious situation, and for what reason? To find parents that probably didn't give two rats' asses about her? He'd personally stopped searching for his own mother long ago—it was obvious that she didn't want to have anything to do with him. It just wasn't worth the repercussions that would arise in the event that her secret was uncovered—she was _vastly_ underestimating Robin's detective skills. He didn't even want to think about what the self-proclaimed Boy Wonder would do to them—most importantly, to _him,_ when he found out, and he _would_ most definitely find out. There was no doubt in Roy's mind about that. It was only a matter of time. He'd have to do his best to help Raven get answers and get out before the shit hit the fan.

Roy and Robin's relationship had been borne out of conflict, as relationships seemed to do quite often around the always brooding teen. It had been first year, and the two had been paired in archery class together to complete the famed 'William Tellian' Exam. As the name suggested, the student was to successfully shoot a target directly above their partner's head. They'd been paired together and Robin had raised a royal ruckus, screaming that he'd surely shoot him in the head and just how would they explain that to _the _Bruce_ Wayne?_ While the staff fluttered around him like worried hummingbirds, uncertain and fearing for their jobs that would surely be lost if they upset their founder's adopted son, Roy had nocked an arrow and pinned the little bird's hand to the target center. Apparently they'd all forgotten that it was his unparalleled archery skills that had landed Roy at Paladin in the first place.

The arrow had sliced cleanly through the center of Robin's palm, narrowly missing bone and his ulnar artery. It was that and the fact that the Head Nurse and the professor in charge secretly sided with Roy that he didn't get expelled immediately. Instead, he was forced to sit with Robin every day for the week he had to spend there (though it was more for Robin's wounded pride than his healing hand). The two had begrudgingly accepted each other's friendship when Roy brought him crime graphic novels to read. Over the years their bond had grown into more of a brotherhood than simple friendship, and Roy could not imagine ever intentionally hurting Robin.

So, call it self-preservation, if you will. A trait that the poor, unsuspecting Raven obviously _lacked_. He glanced back at her, noticing the stifled grace to her walk, eyes trained on the ground in front of her, no doubt lost in thought. He found himself imagining what she would be like as her normal self, undisguised, but before he could get too far, she looked up, and his concentration broke. He turned forward, reminding himself that he did not want to know her. The less he knew about her, the easier it would be to send her out of the school and out of their lives when this was through.

* * *

A wary eye was all Wren got from Robin when he reentered the suite later that night. He was too tired to survive another fight, he wasn't sure that he'd be able to control himself if the strange purple-headed boy instigated something. He was grateful though, when Wren quietly made himself a mug of tea and disappeared back into the loft without a sound.

Robin knew without a shadow of a doubt that he'd heard voices in the bathroom earlier, and had given the bathroom a thorough once-over the minute Wren had left. No one was in the shower stall or hiding beneath the kitchen sink, which unnerved him all the more. It could be possible that conversing with invisible beings was one of the quirks that came with Wren being non-human, but nevertheless, Robin had the distinct feeling his life was being flipped upside down and that he was powerless to stop or control it.

However, Robin was not about to accept that he might be losing control of everything. To demonstrate to himself that he was, in fact, in complete and total command over his life, he accessed the suite's light control via his computer and plunged the loft into darkness.

He didn't even try to hide the smugness from the "Sorry, ten o'clock means light's out!" he called in response to Wren's surprised cry of outrage. _Yep_, he thought, _I'm still in control_.

* * *

_Three Weeks Later_

* * *

"Hey Wren, the game's about to start, aren't you coming down?"

Raven looked up from her _Caster Magick and Meditations _textbook, irritated at the interruption. The loft was supposed to be her quiet sanctuary, as Robin avoided it like the plague and as it was set apart from the rest of the room. Unfortunately, like today, the suite would get noisy, and she could barely concentrate. This was the third time someone had interrupted her about something that was happening on Robin's large TV, something Raven figured she'd probably need to know about to keep up appearances but couldn't be bothered with right now. She didn't know how much longer she could keep her anger under control.

Slightly shaking with the effort to keep her anger in check, she held up her textbook and put on her best_ 'I wish I could join you but homework I wish I didn't have to do is kicking my ass' _face. The green-furred Garfield visibly deflated, and she winced inwardly. "Sorry, man," she said sincerely, the phrase now falling with ease after living among pure, unadulterated testosterone for three weeks, "I'll catch up on the scores when I'm done. Go, Jump City Tigers?"

At that, Garfield's pointed ears perked, and he flashed her a reassuring nod and a fist pump before hopping back down the stairs, new purpose in his step. His eagerness to please was annoying sometimes, but it was really beginning to win her over. Really, the whole group—sans Robin—was slowly winding its way into her heart, though she was loathe to admit it. She was not allowed to have personal attachments.

Regardless, as soon as Garfield made it down the steps, she quickly charmed the loft. "_Quiesco*."_

A rush of pride brought a smile to her face when the noises from below were drowned out as the charm began to work. Her _Caster Magick_ professor had noticed that she was particularly gifted in spells and charms, and had given her the advanced textbook she now cradled as a gift. She'd taken no time to devour its teachings, reveling in the heady feeling of excitement she got whenever she cast a new charm and it actually worked. Spells and charms had the tendency of going horribly awry whenever she casted them.

Raven wasn't really the type to become overly excited about anything, but her special assignment today had her nearly bouncing on her toes all day until classes were over and she was eager to get started. The project was to find her own incantation, something crucial to anyone who could wield magic. Regular spells were just formulaic enchantments that took their magic from ingredients instead of the actual magic ability of the spellcaster. Incantations and charms drew their power from the very _core_ of a sorcerer's being, making them that much more powerful.

If she could successfully find her personal incantation, not only would she have better control over her abilities, she'd be able to perform even greater magic than she was currently capable of. Her Physical Defense grades were hilariously dismal—she could barely levitate _herself _five inches off of the ground let alone levitate a nearby object. Hand-to-hand combat was made extremely difficult as she was more occupied with keeping her bindings in place and making sure her opponent didn't accidentally touch something they shouldn't. Being able to more skillfully control her magic would allow her to stay a safe distance away from her attacker and still deal maximum damage.

At this rate, there was no doubt she'd be assigned to Team Squint*, the school's affectionate name for the physically unfit group of kids who couldn't pass the Winter Quarter Defense exams. Team Squint would be confined to the campus during Spring Quarter to do research, healing, and intel work while the remaining students were assigned to teams and flown out to cities like Gotham, Jump, Bludhaven, and Metropolis to fight crime and help the police force solve cases. The six students with the highest grades in the Defense, Investigative, and Criminology Exams would be sent to Gotham, and Raven was aiming to be assigned to that team. The one thing she did know about her childhood before Bijoux was that it had occurred in Gotham, and if she wanted to find answers, Gotham was without a doubt the place to start.

_Be prepared,_ her textbook read. _So far, you may have only reached the sixth level of meditation. In this lesson, you will be accessing the seventh and most important chakra, the chakra of pure consciousness. This chakra holds your incantation, and it is your goal to retrieve it. As you approach the seventh chakra, some of you will be faced with extreme surprising and strange imagery. You must not be afraid, though, as it is simply your defense system. You must remember that your own will is impervious to anything it can conjure, and once you have demonstrated that, it will deem you ready to access your incantation and it will reveal itself to you. _

_It might take an hour, it may even take _days_; it is _extremely_ important to keep your wits about you and keep your will strong. The weak-willed are never able to access their incantations, especially if their intentions are dishonorable, and most eventually become instruments of the Darkness. Do not become discouraged, and if you remember nothing else, always remember the following two things: all who wield magic have the responsibility to use it to protect those who cannot protect themselves, even if it costs your life, and that no evil is honorable: but death is honorable; therefore death is not evil.*_

_How reassuring,_ Raven thought, and closed her eyes. She sank deep past her first six chakras, digging farther into her psyche than she'd ever dared to before. After a while, she was looking over the edge of a stone cliff, a cliff so high that all she could see below was a dense, gray mist. In all of her previous meditations, she'd always stop and wake herself at this point. She had never thought to go further, and her powers were usually manageable after this. Obviously, to access her seventh chakra, she would have to go further than this. Her only option at this point lay beyond the depths below, which was ironic, seeing as the seventh chakra was supposed to be _above_ her head, not _below_. Taking a deep breath to brace herself, she silenced her doubts and dived off of the edge.

Vaguely, she noticed that she _descended _rather than _fell. _This was a practiced and controlled _dive _compared to the violent, spiraling _plummets_ that frequented her nightmares, and this knowledge fueled her confidence. She let herself pick up speed as the wind shrieked, violently whipping her hair about her face. She sliced through the dense fog like a knife, and it broke, revealing a jet black ocean that sped towards her, stretching into infinity on either side. Its angry-looking waves tossed and turned, standing out in stark contrast to the gray, foggy gloom of her inner mind. Irrational fears of drowning and certain death threatened to break her concentration, but she had been trained all Quarter for this moment. She closed her eyes as the ocean lurched up, swallowing her whole and not leaving so much as a splash to mark her entrance.

The water was frigid, seeping into her bones and locking up her limbs. Her fear rose once again as she struggled without air and she flailed helplessly for a moment. Bravely, she willed herself to stop struggling and to let the ocean's currents take her wherever they chose. As soon as she stilled, her instinct to breathe evaporated, and the ocean no longer felt threatening. After what seemed like an eternity, she felt rough sand beneath her feet, and her head broke the water when she found she could stand. She dragged herself ashore, grateful for the steady, stony ground beneath the skin of her palms.

She looked up, finding herself at the bottom of a vast, bleak, rocky valley. The starless sky was the same inky black as the ocean behind her, and they seamlessly blended until she could not tell where one left off and the other began. The entire valley was somehow lit with an ethereal light and showed no signs of life, either human, flora or faun. A deep hum vibrated under her skin, and Raven grew uneasy.

"Hello?" she called, her voice echoing across the giant stones that marked a path before her, and as if in answer, a strong wind picked up, sending the pebbles on the ground around her swirling. It pushed against her back, and she stumbled to her feet. "No need to be so pushy," she grumbled, and the wind blew harder in return.

Following the path, Raven eventually found herself in a clearing that featured a circle of large, misshapen boulders in its center. Once she stepped inside the circle for a closer look, however, she realized with a blush that they weren't_ boulders_ at all. She was actually surrounded by six* different stone versions of herself,_ naked_, and detailed all the way down to the crescent-shaped birthmark on her inner thigh_. _Each of them had a different expression, as well—one grinned defiantly back at her, hands on her hips in a defensive stance, while her neighbor was hunched forward, arms shielding her nakedness as she peered warily up at Raven through thick eyelashes.

Another Raven had her hands clasped in front of her, an expression of warm delight transforming her features, while to the right of her, another version of Raven held a large book, and looked disapprovingly at the other statues.

An odd feeling between her shoulder blades made Raven turn, and she found herself face to face with the final two statues. Their expressions could not be more different, and yet their arms were linked. One statue was none other than _Other_ Raven herself, her four eyes narrowed in a permanent glower, and her free hand balled into a fist at her side. The other wore a serene expression, and beckoned with an outstretched hand. Belatedly, it dawned on her that these statues were personifications of her own emotions, visual renderings of the feelings she so painstakingly kept under lock and key.

An urge rose in her then, compelling her to acknowledge them once and for all. Obviously this was a test. It made sense, in a way. She'd always known that her deepest fear was that she'd hurt or kill someone whenever her powers spiraled out of control, but it wasn't her powers that she feared. Her emotions were the roots of it all. They were what fueled her powers, and spiked out of control the most whenever she experienced strong feelings of anger or fear. It was also then that her empathy would grow out of control and she was vulnerable to the oppressive, chaotic feelings of those around her.

And so until now, Raven had tried to live her life as emotionlessly as it was possible, not allowing herself to get too angry, or to make friends, experience happiness for too long or to ever, ever admit her fear under any circumstance. Of course, she had made mistakes along the way, like befriending Byter and sneaking into Paladin for instance.

Now, almost as if it were payback, she had to acknowledge the very root of her fear. The statues seemed to wait, expectant, and the enormity of it all nearly crushed her willpower, and she backed into the pedestal of one of the statues. Strength instantly flooded through her, and she realized that she was leaning on the Raven with the defiant grin. "Courage." she whispered, the name slipping from her mouth easily, and the stone figure warmed in response. "You…give me my willpower and the bravery to be honest, and I…acknowledge you." A soft green light started to pulse from within the stone, and Raven knew she had to continue.

"Fear," she touched the hand of the statue to her right, and the stone glowed yellow. "You give me both my modesty and sense of danger, but I am not afraid to acknowledge you."

"Compassion, you give me the gift of kindness and empathy, and through these I have happiness. I acknowledge you."

As Compassion glowed blue-violet, she turned to the book-wielding Raven with a frown. This one was hard. The book the statue held was misleading, and her first thought was that she represented Knowledge. However, intelligence itself wasn't an_ emotion_. This emotion wasn't about learning _itself_, but the emotion that fueled her desire _to_ learn, and once she understood that, Raven knew what to name this statue.

"Avarice, you give me a blessing in the form of a curse. You give me greed, but you also give me an insatiable lust for knowledge and desire to find the truth, and for that, I acknowledge you." The stone glowed orange in return, and she turned to face the final two statues.

Fueled by the boost from Courage, she was able to brave the fear that rose in her when she faced _Other_ Raven. Knowing that she now had control over her fear, though, she was able quell it and speak calmly. "At first I thought that Depravity was your name, but I was wrong. Naming you as evil would only give you that much more hold over me. You are…" she paused, as her mind settled on the title that felt _right_. "Rage. You are the source of my passion and my anger. You give me the ability to fight for what I believe in, and when combined with Courage, you make me unstoppable. You do not control me, because you are...a part of _me_. I acknowledge you." The stone remained dark and a pregnant pause ensued, making Raven's heart creep up her esophagus. Grudgingly, Rage began to glow bright crimson, and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

She paused for a second after turning to the last statue, but no matter how hard she thought, the name of this particular emotion refused to surface. "I don't know who you are, and I can't say I've ever felt you." She began honestly, hoping that she'd at least get a star for effort. The statue gazed back at her, kind, solemn and somehow foreboding at the same time. For some reason, this Raven's stony gaze was more terrifying to Raven than dropping into the sea of darkness, or the fear of acknowledging Rage as part of her psyche. Raven was afraid because this statue was speaking to something buried deep in her soul, waking something up, and she was terrified of what that could potentially mean.

"I…I'm afraid of you, of what you might mean for me," she admitted, deciding to ignore the terror in her belly and clasping the statue's outstretched hand. "But you're a part of me, so…I acknowledge you." She gasped as what she expected to be cold, forbidding stone nearly scalded her fingertips with a deep, violet heat.

Slowly, so slowly, the statue blinked, and Raven watched her stone twin's lips curve in approval, "_I_ am Love, _you _are Hope. And _we_ acknowledge _you_." Raven looked down as her body shimmered with blue light, and then everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: As always, leave me your review! And for my sharp-eyed readers, don't hesitate to point out any errors.**

**Also, there are a couple terms and references in this chapter that I want to clarify.**

*_Quiesco_ - **The charm Raven used to silence her room is Latin for 'quiet'. **

*_Team Squint_** - ****Those of you who watch Bones know exactly what I mean by 'Team Squint', and that was a little shoutout to all of my fellow Bones fans. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I suggest you go find out! ;)**

*****_"No evil is honorable: but death is honorable; therefore death is not evil." - _Citium Zeno

*****And lastly, and probably most controversially, are the _Emoticlones,_ a.k.a._ Raven's Emotions_ -** I'm sure you've noticed that I've decided to go against the portrayal of Raven's emotions shown in the television series. But before you come screaming with pitchforks, please note that I've decided to use the _DC's Emotional Spectrum_ instead, as they have a deeper meaning and are far better suited for this kind of story. So technically, I'm still being canon. ;)**

**Instead of having eight different emoticlones that don't exactly relate to each other, (Pink/Happy, Gray/Timidity, Green/Brave, Red/Rage, Orange/Apathy or Rude, Yellow/Knowledge, Brown/Sloth and Purple/Love) _this_ Raven will only have seven emoticlones, herself included.**

**In DC's Emotional Spectrum, all human emotions correspond to the seven colors of the rainbow: Red being Rage, Orange being Avarice/Greed, Yellow being Fear, Green being Courage/Willpower, Blue representing Hope, Indigo as Compassion and Violet as Love. Rage and Love are at opposite ends of the spectrum, are the most powerful of all the emotions and have the most influence over their host. Though each emotion has the potential to be devastating, each can also be positive if used correctly. Courage is the center of the spectrum, and balances all of the other emotions. **

**I felt that this way of thinking about and explaining Raven's emotions was far simpler to understand and relate to my story, so I hope you understand! I encourage you to read more on it, because it will help you better understand where this story is going. Just google "DC Emotional Spectrum", and the dedicated wiki page should be the first result! **


	7. Tanzanite: His Dignity

**A/N: **I decided that there needed to be an extra color (Indigo) between **Sapphire** and **Amethyst**, so, here you go.

No, no, you don't need to thank me, it's my pleasure. ;)

Special thanks to **Smiles** for helping me and beta-ing some of this chapter! Don't be shy if you'd also like to beta, I can never have enough help!

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Disclaimer: **_This story takes place in an alternate universe, similar to the one from the cartoon version of Teen Titans. Some facts and backstories have been changed around to fit the story, as it is an alternate universe. Some things have been kept canon, but with a twist._

_This story is rated M for mature. That means it may include strong language, sexual situations and graphic violence and some horrific imagery not suitable for children. I do not own the Teen Titans, nor any part of the DC universe in part or in whole._

* * *

**_Chapter 6: _**Tanzanite / _His Dignity_

_"_Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before."

_—Edgar Allan Poe, _The Raven

* * *

For the first few weeks, sharing a room with Wren had gone without a hitch. Robin had agreeably avoided and ignored the loft at all costs, and Wren didn't go postal on him when he was being, as his friends called it, "OCD". He'd graciously declined to comment on the_ very audible_ voices sometimes coming from the loft or the bathroom in the middle of the night—even though he and Wren were undoubtedly the suite's sole occupants—and Wren had never complained that although Robin made a point of turning off the _loft's_ lights at ten sharp, he himself never retired to bed until a few hours before class started.

After today, though, it would all end. This morning, Robin had noticed the acrid smell of something burning and was instantly on alert, but, looking around, he saw no fire. Something told him to look up, and when he did, he saw smoke waft lazily from the direction of the loft. He couldn't see much of Wren's room from the ground floor but part of the blackened ceiling was clearly visible. He dismissed it at first, not wanting to break their no-argument streak; sure that Wren had it under control, but afterwards? Robin spent the entire _day_ preventing himself from going up there. Eventually, his resolve faltered, because he _knew _that it had been exactly _36 hours_ since he last saw Wren leave the loft, and something _had _to be wrong.

It wasn't that he was keeping _tabs_ on Wren or anything, of course. Robin was a _detective_—it was his _job_ to notice things. He hadn't left the suite all day, nor had he gotten any sleep the night before so he would definitely have seen Wren leave and he _hadn't, _not once_._

Robin knew that he'd be violating every rule they'd silently agreed upon if he went up to the loft. He _knew_ this, yet his unshakable sense of responsibility _would not let him_ continue to ignore Wren (who could be in danger) just for the sake of peace. If Wren didn't like it…well, he'd just have to deal with that later.

And that is how Robin found himself breaking their unspoken truce and climbing the stairs leading to Wren's room later that night, unwilling to put it off any longer. He reminded himself with each step that the _only_ reason he was doing this was because he had a_ responsibility _to make sure that Wren wasn't dead or dying. He was _only_ concerned because it'd look terrible on his Teamwork Evaluation record if something awful happened to his roommate while he'd been idling less than twelve feet away.

It was most _certainly_ not because Wren was actually starting to grow on him for some obscure reason and most _definitely _notbecause the thought that something could be wrong with Wren made his insides twist uncomfortably.

Oddly, the first thing Robin noticed was that the candles surrounding the room were all but burnt out; the shape of Wren's bed a shapeless shadow in the weak and flickering light. After fumbling around in the dark and cursing the sorcerer's weird obsession with it for five minutes, he found the light switch.

Later Robin would tell himself that it was only because of his _profound sense of heroic duty _that he nearly lost it when his eyes finally adjusted. White-faced, unmoving, and still dressed in Friday's clothes, Wren lay on his back at the foot of the bed. From his nose ran a steady stream of bright red that marred his ashen skin and spotted his duvet, while soot from the blackened ceiling floated around like singed snow. Robin started forward, stopped mid-stride, and turned back to the staircase, starting to dial the dorm's emergency medic unit on his cell before it occurred to him that they might not get here in time and _what was he going to do if Wren died because they took too long_? He looked back wide-eyed at Wren's limp form, and forced himself to think rationally.

Wait. He'd received the _same _training as the EMU*, and had saved _quite_ a few lives on _quite_ a few occasions. He could _totally _handle this.

"Hey, Wren. You haven't come out for a bit, and the guys were asking about you…" Robin lied, struggling between wanting to get closer and _not_ wanting to be too close in the event that Wren was having some kind of supernatural hibernation period and would attack violently upon waking. Robin tried calling out to him once again, this time slightly closer, but he didn't so much as twitch.

As if he'd just cornered a tiger instead of a comatose teenager, Robin neared, watching closely for signs of life while his mind screamed at him that each second he wasted being a coward could mean death for his roommate. After getting close enough to realize that Wren's chest _was_ indeed rising and falling, he finally stopped panicking and remembered how to breathe, transitioning easily into medic mode.

Robin carefully climbed onto the bed—his added weight causing the mattress to dip and groan in protest—and checked for vital signs. A faint, yet steady pulse fluttered against his fingertips, but there was no time to be relieved—Wren's tie had somehow twisted and tangled up around his neck, blocking airflow. Moving quickly, Robin detangled the tie and tossed it aside, not registering the sound of fabric ripping as Wren's shirt tore in the process. His hands stilled, however, as they came into contact with not skin, but the smooth fabric of some kind of sleeveless bodysuit. A sudden, sharp intake of breath made him look up as Wren's body realized it could now breathe freely, and the half-formed thought that Wren's chest beneath the latex looked suspiciously…_meaty_, evaporated.

"Wren, can you hear me?" Robin asked, torn between the foolish hope that he'd only been sleeping—that is, if all young sorcerers slept for 36 hours straight while bleeding from the nose—and the fear that it was some sort of prolonged, magical seizure.

He wasn't responding. Robin put an arm around Wren's thin shoulders, gently pulling and shifting him upright and into a sitting position. Not finding anything clean nearby to staunch the blood still streaming from his nose, he cradled the back of Wren's head with one hand, swiftly pulling his own t-shirt off with the other and pressed a corner against Wren's small, upturned nose. He didn't even notice that his favorite, _pristine_ white tee was slowly turning crimson, or that excess blood ran in rivulets down his arm and onto the already stained sheets.

The blood gradually slowed to a trickle, then stopped altogether. Putting down the shirt after he was sure the blood had stopped, Robin held Wren at arm's length and examined the bodysuit more closely for any physical wounds he might have missed. There weren't any visible gaping holes or gashes but he couldn't tell for sure without removing it altogether. Robin was so engrossed, looking for a zipper or button of some kind to get the confounded material off, that he almost didn't notice that Wren was stirring.

"Wren! Wren, come _on_. Dude, open your eyes for me." He coaxed when he realized the smaller boy's eyes had begun to flutter. Maybe it was just his already strung-out nerves but something about the way he looked in that split second made Robin's arms go limp. Without support, Wren crashed into his chest, and the next thing he knew, Robin was staring up at the charred ceiling. Sprawled on top of him, Wren made a noise—a soft, mewling sound—into the skin of his neck and he went rigid.

In retrospect, Robin had no idea what possessed him to freeze at that precise moment. He couldn't help but wonder sometimes that maybe his hesitation right then was the catalyst, the spark that ignited an inferno, the jump-start that sent his entire life careening down a collision path with disaster, forever jeopardizing his dignity.

The chill of Wren's skin on his neck and chest sent goosebumps speeding along his arms in a frenzy. Robin found that he was suddenly—inexplicably—hyper-aware of every inch of his skin that was touching Wren. Giddy anticipation as silken violet strands brushed against his lips turned into shivery fascination as Wren's mouth moved against his neck, and the self-proclaimed "Boy Wonder" was rendered completely and utterly helpless by the sensations.

Robin was in the middle of marveling to himself that Wren's hair was just as soft as he thought it was when suddenly, what he was doing finally caught up with his brain, and reflexively, he tried to push Wren away. However, being more entangled than he expected, their positions only ended up reversed. Pushing himself onto his elbows, Robin stared down, breathless and mystified by the utter_ absurdity_ of the whole situation.

And of course Wren, at that point, opened his eyes.

* * *

Consciousness returned to Raven in fits and starts. First came the impression of being enveloped in warmth, the smell of smoke, then panic as her senses instinctively cast out and discovered that the warmth surrounding her was _human. _Sluggishly, as if she were treading through molasses, Raven pried open her eyes.

Oddly enough, she wasn't shocked at Robin's face hovering five inches above hers, or even alarmed that a _shirtless_ Robin was lying _on top of her._ In the split second that their gazes were locked, Raven was struck with the image of a child who had just been caught doing something extremely naughty. It was_ terrifying_.

They gaped at each other for another few eternities until Robin must have noticed that she was starting to hyperventilate, and to his credit, looked a little apologetic before scooting back and helping her into a sitting position. At the same time, Raven realized that _her_ shirt was also missing. She quickly crossed her arms and the two proceeded to assess each other, both wide-eyed and afraid of what the other was thinking.

"What the hell—" "Dude, what—"

Robin let out a nervous breath and as she gestured for him to go first, Raven wondered if the level of "oh shit" in the room could possibly go up any higher.

"First of all, are you…alright?" As his gaze traveled her body, suddenly the woven threads of her bedspread seemed extremely interesting. Apparently, she was not as desensitized to the male physique as she'd thought.

"What are you talking about? I'm _fine_—"

"_Wren._" Robin had started radiating the most peculiar emotion. The sharpness in the way he said her name was alarming—giving Raven the distinct feeling that she was either insane or missing something extremely important. "You were…you weren't_…_" The feeling only grew as he hesitated, and she tried not to leap across the bed to throttle it out of him, shirtless or not.

"_What? _I wasn't _what_?!"

"You weren't waking up," he blurted, and Raven finally realized that Robin was _shaken. _Shaken, but also _relieved._ She felt oddly pleased—he'd been _worried_ about her. The degree of his relief was so_ steep, _though. Either he honestly valued their…_acquaintanceship_ more than she thought, or this…this had happened before.

"I…wasn't…waking…up?" she repeated after she'd recovered from this realization, heavy sarcasm making it clear that she thought he was overreacting. "Don't tell me you were performing CPR."

"I found you _passed out_, in the _dark_, bleeding and surrounded by _smoke_." Robin's expression had turned dark, his voice lowering to little more than a growl, "Your tie was _wrapped around your throat_ and you could barely even _breathe. _So forgive me for being a human _being _and checking to make sure you were not dead."

"Well, obviously I'm _not_ dead, so you can go back to your _Birdcave _now_._" Suddenly bewildered and embarrassed and angry all at the same time, and, not to mention,_ still_ without a shirt, Raven realized that she needed to get him away from her before he looked a little too closely at her upper half. "Don't you have some extra credit ass-kissing to do?"

That seemed to tick Robin off even more, which was…actually not that surprising. Blue eyes blazing, he leaned in close, the promise of death in his voice as it whispered over her face. "Do not think for a second that just because I give you your space means that I will sit back and ignore when you're in trouble. As long as you're my roommate, I'm _obligated_ to look out for you, whether you like it or not."

His threat sounded dangerously like a promise—as if he were vowing to protect her—and Raven couldn't help but feel irritatingly comforted. Of all possible things, in that instant Robin seemed almost…likable.

Of course, Raven was not about to admit this fun fact, not to Robin _or _to herself. "Well, I _apologize_ for being such an _inconvenience, _but I wasn't in _trouble._ I was simply meditating. I wouldn't expect you to understand—"

"I _know_ what meditation is, Wren. You were half_ dead—_practically in a coma for thirty-six _hours_," he gestured above them, "_And,_ you_ fried _the _ceiling_. Meditation, my _ass_."

He indicated the blackly scrawled words above their heads and Raven gasped against her will when she read them:

_Azarath Metrion Zinthos _

Just _thinking_ the smoldering inscription called the magic to Raven's hands, and this new, boundless feeling sent her heart racing.

"No, that was…homework…" Distracted, she turned her hands over, marveling at the contained magic and forgetting her anger momentarily. "It's kind of advanced magic, I guess. I didn't expect it to be so powerful." This seemed to infuriate Robin further, and he proceeded to angrily lecture her on practicing_ safe magic_.

"_Advanced magic_? And you say _I'm_ ass-kissing…Did you even think about what might have happened if you'd lost control? What if someone got hurt because you want to impress your professor? Do you even _care_? You seem to be only thinking of yourself, Wren—"

Raven spun on him, magic flaring. "_Excuse me?_ Don't you ever, _EVER _presume to tell me who I care about! I care more about everyone in this _entire school_ more than you realize, alright?! Every waking moment of my life is spent _alone_, Robin, do you want to know why?If I lose control, _everyone around me is in danger. _Do you know what it's like to live like that? _Do you know what it's like to never be close to someone?" _

Robin faltered in his tirade, shocked and speechless at the outburst. "I—I…"

He had no idea, really. Of _course _she'd known that this was a risky spell, but she didn't try it because she wanted to be _reckless_, or because she wanted to impress some _teacher_. Any likability for him that she might have had evaporated, and was replaced by pure, unadulterated fury. The air crackled with magic, and a hum rose as all of the electric items in the room strained against Raven's wrath. "Why are you so fucking _blind?_ Is it that impossible for other people to have genuine intentions too? Or are you the only one allowed to be the hero in your little world?"

"W-wren, I—"

"Don't worry," the bed squeaked indignantly as Raven leapt off, fumbling about for her strewn clothing. How did he effortlessly manage to make her so _angry_? "Since I _obviously_ need to be _supervised _like a_ child, _I'll be doing my homework in the _library_ from now on."

* * *

"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…" Power rushed to Raven's fingertips, eager to be released. With her eyes closed, she let out a wave of magic, letting it wash invisibly over the library's walls and whisper over the bookcases.

Raven could feel the cool wetness in a drop of sweat as it slid down the frazzled librarian's temple on the first floor, and the heartbeats of the students on both the first and second floor etched themselves into her psyche. And the _emotions_, so many emotions.

However, instead of overwhelming terror as a cacophony of hundreds of thoughts and desires tried to merge with her own, Raven was able to separate herself almost fully, something she could never have hoped to manage without her incantation. For the first time in nearly a month, Raven was glad that she had risked it all to come to Paladin. The utter bliss that came with the semblance of control she'd so desperately needed was worth the trouble, all of it. Even if the headmaster—no, even if Batman_ himself_ came down and expelled her at this very second, she would go happily.

Well, not _too _happily. There was still the problem of finding out what happened to Phaesya, and, probably more importantly, remembering what had happened during the first thirteen years of her life. It was if someone had cordoned off that section of her memories, deeming it "unfit for Raven consumption". She sighed into her book. Currently, _that _particular project was going nowhere.

"Wren." Someone slid into the seat beside her, and Raven knew without looking that it was Robin. She'd felt him when he'd first walked in, and by the determination rolling off of him in waves, she'd given it about five seconds before he would make a beeline to her table. "I wanted…to apologize for last week. I didn't mean to offend you or imply—"

"Oh, I think you meant to _imply_, all right."

"Dude, you're not making this easy—"

"As hard as it is to believe, Boy _Blunder_, the entire world does not _exist_ to make things easy for you."

Robin held up his hands, offering her his palms in a placating gesture, "Look, can we just start over? I'm apologizing for blowing up at you, okay? I was wrong—I was a little on edge and I said some things I shouldn't have. I…I didn't realize _why_ you took such a risk, so I just assumed—"

She shot him a questioning look. "And what made you realize?"

"I kind of asked your professor about the spell you were working on, and he told me that you've been working pretty hard to control your abilities..."

Raven scoffed in disbelief. "You did _what?_"

He shrugged, having the decency at least, to look sheepish,"…I'd really like to get past this…this _antagonism _between us."

Raven was silent for a few minutes, studying the page in front of her for so long the words blurred and swam together. His sincerity was almost overpowering but his impatience was deafening her senses. She was still somewhat angry but she couldn't help but relent to him. "I'm…sorry for calling you blind. You're just narrow-minded."

"I…Okay, I'll take that. But can we at least agree to be more…" Idly he flipped through one of the books on the table as he fished for the right word. "Vocal? With one another? I mean, we don't have to be friends, but—"

"I understand, Robin. I'll let you know the next time I'm going to do a high-risk spell, or something. I apologize for scaring you, too—"

"I was _not_ scared—"

"I'm an _empath_, Robin."

"_Regardless, _I don't want you to feel like you have to leave the room to study. It's your room too, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable—"

"Robin. I've got it. We're okay. _Gods_, your hero complex is annoying sometimes."

"_Excuse me_ for having morals. What is this you're reading, anyway? _Tongues of the Ancient Dead…_Sounds…optimistic."

"What, my professor didn't tell you?" Her sarcasm wasn't lost on Robin, and he shot her a dry look.

"No, he was too busy telling me the magical story of your birth."

A chill ran down Raven's spine at his words—if only that were actually the case. She half-smiled to cover up her discomfort, and gestured to the book he held.

"I'm researching my incantation—those words on the ceiling?"

"The kid at Student Affairs say they won't pay to fix that, by the way. He also said something about not being responsible for devil worship. Asshole."

"Whatever. I don't really care. What's more important is that I _understand_ it. An incantation is useless in combat if…if I don't know the meaning behind the words."

"Ah, hence the dead language books. You know…I could help you with that…if you want." There was an unguarded hesitancy in Robin's tone; he sounded genuinely…_friendly_. He must have noticed it, because he quickly added in a more brusque tone, "Bruce used to have me study dead warlock languages to be prepared when fighting one. I could use the information in my report on Criminal Mystokinetics."

"Sure…I guess. If you…want," Raven echoed, unsure of what to do with his unexpected kindness. He'd somehow managed to draw more words out of her in the span of fifteen minutes than Byte had in the entire amount of time she'd known her. She decided to chalk it up to his infectious and insufferable morality, and handed him another couple books. "Good…good luck."

Hours passed, and although his steady focus on her assignment was…_touching_, Raven was beginning to doubt that Robin would get any farther than she did, dead languages or not.

"Hey. Library closes in an hour. Maybe…we should call it a day—"

"I've got it. Where's my prize?" Robin looked up at her with an easy grin, and it occurred to Raven that the sapphire in his eyes contrasted perfectly with the ebony of his hair. Suddenly her mouth wouldn't work properly.

"P-prize?"

"Fine, no prize then." He pretended to sulk until Raven gave up and snatched the book he was holding.

"It's not in there, Wren. I just realized that part of your incantation is in _Nocte—_Batman had me do a case report on a warlock who only casted _Nocte_ spells once."

"_Nocte_ spells are a reflection of the caster's intentions…"Raven flipped to a page in one of the monstrous books, fingers nearly trembling with excitement. "They only have one formation—origin, motivation and promise. If I translate the incantation from _Nocte_ then…" Raven looked at him with widened eyes, unknowingly causing Robin's stomach to clench unexpectedly. "Metrion would mean justice, and Zinthos would be an oath, a...a promise of vindication, specifically for those who have been wronged."

* * *

Wren was looking at him strangely, and Robin absently wondered if he had something on his face. It was similar to the look he had when Robin had first heard him "talking to himself". Wren had stumbled out of the bathroom and stopped short, fixing him with the oddest look. Their eyes had locked and Robin had felt so strange, as if he were standing naked in front of a crowd of Starfires.

That is to say, it wasn't an _unpleasant_ weird feeling, because obviously being naked with a bunch of Starfires wasn't necessarily a _bad_ thing. The fact that Wren was having that effect on him was the bad thing.

Robin was never one to deliberate over anything, and this was no different. He decided once and for all that he _liked_ this—he liked _Wren_. He liked the thin, tiny, unwillingly righteous violet-haired boy, and he was not going to deny it any longer.

Robin wouldn't deny it, because sure, he liked Victor and Garfield as well. And hell, he even liked Roy—_and _he liked Roy a whole lot more than he liked the other guys.

What he wouldn't admit was that the way he liked Wren…he didn't know how to explain it but it was different. And it was _worrying_.

Robin didn't even know what it was about Wren that he even liked, or from what point he'd even started, because he was pretty damn sure that he'd hated Wren from the moment he saw him and found out that they were sharing rooms. All Robin knew was that Wren was just as hungry for justice as he was—and he found that he could not dislike someone so much like himself.

There was an awkward silence growing between them but Robin didn't break eye contact."That sounds like an amazing incantation, Wren. I'd be proud to fight alongside you if I had the chance."

Color was beginning to rise in Wren's cheeks, but before Robin could comment on it, or better yet, make him do it more, they were interrupted by a soft "ahem".

A strikingly beautiful woman with braided midnight-blue hair that hung almost to her knees stood before their table. "I'm Professor Huang—Head of the Spellcasting and Sorcery Department, but I'm also known to the students as Nightlocke. Wren, I've been assigned to help you regain your memories. Are you familiar with the term Menigenesis?"

* * *

**EMU* -** _Emergency Medical Unit - _The campuses' emergency medical services.

**A/N: **Wow almost exclusive Robin and Raven moments in this chapter. No wait...*checks* Yeah, exclusive Robin and Raven in this chapter. Hope you didn't mind. Let me know how I'm doing and review? Let me know what you want to see more of, or what I'm doing wrong/right?

By the way, I'll be fully using the M rating from chapter 7 out, so children, BACK OFF.

And always, if you spot errors, feel free to point them out!


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